In a small Spanish town, Manolo grows up under the shadow of his late father, a celebrated bullfighter, while struggling between the expectations around him and his own fear. Through that conflict, the novel asks what courage means and what it takes to choose a life of one’s own instead of living out someone else’s wishes.

Caught between his father’s legacy and his own fear, a boy tries to choose a life that is truly his own.

Set during the Civil War, the novel follows Jethro Creighton as he grows up on an Illinois farm. Against the uncertainty brought by war to his family and community, it traces his gradual move toward adulthood through responsibility, loss, and hard-won resilience.

In wartime, a boy grows into responsibility while learning how to hold his family together.