A Whisper in the Attic — Gloria Murphy

There once was a girl who had a little curl...well, you know the rest.

Parents-to-be Jason and Paige Bennett leave their city apartment in New York and head upstate for rural tranquility after Paige fends off a would-be purse snatcher. Their life together planning for their child appears to be smooth and idyllic until...

Until they meet 11-year-old Lily. Found cowering in the rural house they are staying in, the Bennetts take her in. Charmed by her little-girl demeanor, Paige feels her maternal instincts kicking in. Delighted to have a child in the house, Paige cleans Lily up; buys her clothes and enrolls her in a local public school.

Problems with Lily soon crop up. She chops off a classmate's braid; she steals things and is notorious for doing sneaky little things to get others into trouble. She nearly causes a marriage to dissolve. Encouraged by the school to get counseling for the girl, the Bennetts have her evaluated and seen regularly by a specialist who has her own series of problems. One of those problems is an infirm father whom Lily takes an unusual interest in. Like her natural father, Lily scorns weakness and to her, the doctor's father represents all she cannot abide.

Where did Lily REALLY come from? And what could she possibly want from the Bennetts? Is she sinister or innocent? And what of the aunt she never mentions?