Mary Emma & Company is a family affair: Mother, 13-year-old Ralph who is the man of the family, and his two brothers and two sisters. Forced by their father's death to leave the home ranch in Colorado, the penniless Moodys move across the continent to Massachusetts to begin a new life. This the humorous, heartwarming account of their private war for independence, a war against poverty and sometimes against well-meaning relatives and friends who occasionally intrude on the family unity. It chronicles the daily defeats and victories in the long struggle to keep the family together in its own home. Ralph, busy with school and his afternoon job at the grocery store, finds a house Mary Emma & Company can afford. Then comes the task of cleaning, painting, and repairing, and desperate midnight battles with the tired old furnace. Much help, and a little hindrance, from neighbors and kin add to the fun and suspense. Mary Emma builds a business for herself; Ralph finds a new source of income and backbreaking labor through a fire and a flood tide; and little by little, with everyone helping, the battle is won. Mary Emma & Company is the true story of a family that stayed together and lived happily despite tremendous obstacles. Ralph Moody brings humor, pathos, and insight to this delightful account of his growing up. Illustrated by Tran Mawicke