Mercy Saunders is a white teenage girl living in the American South during the height of WWII. With no remaining family, sparse education, little money, forbidden friendships and a complicated history, she navigates the delicate social barriers that hold together her small home town of St. Angel. When an unexpected death sets into motion a complex turn of events, Mercy grasps for all the strength and sense she has left to find hope in an uncertain future and an unwanted opportunity. It is only after drastic changes occur does she discover that this was only the beginning... In "'44", Mercy recalls her childhood from much later in her life, transporting the reader with great emotional and descriptive detail back to a time when war was prominent, gender lines were strict, and race was everything. (Readers, please note: this story contains some mature content for ages 16+)