Sheltered in the simpler time of the late 1940s, twelve-year-old Deenie O'Loughlin finds that life in her rural Appalachian community of Sugarwood is changing. Her former teacher is now her new mother, and her teenage sister seems to be falling in love. Deenie discovers that she has a God-given talent for playing the fiddle, but she also finds that she has a knack for getting into scrapes - in spite of her best intentions. But she encounters even more excitement - and danger - when she and her sister join Preacher Winston Thurgood's team on his "Kentucky Crusade" Out on the Hills is the first novel from this educator, musician, published songwriter, mother and grandmother. She serves as her church's pianist and enjoys the company of her husband, friends and family as she makes music and writes in the hills of Wayne County, West Virginia near the fictional community of Sugarwood.