The restaurant closed down and Addie accepted an opening as head cook in a diner in Mulhoney, Wisconsin. The manager, however, stole all the restaurant's money and took off. As the story begins, Addie and Hope are leaving New York City where Addie was the head cook and Hope was a waitress at a restaurant they both loved. In fact, they moved so much from city to city and state to state that Hope went to six different schools in five years.

For that reason, Addie and Hope moved around a lot. They'd often go out of business or close for some other reason. She kept another scrapbook of the history of her life so that when her father found her she could catch him up on her life.Īddie was a great restaurant cook but didn't have good luck in choosing the best restaurants to work for. In fact, she kept a 'Dads' scrapbook with pictures from magazines of men who looked like good 'dad' candidates. Hope held on to the dream that her father was searching for her and that someday they would reunite. Deena claimed that she didn't know who Hope's father was but Hope didn't believe her. Deena 'gave' Hope to Addie to raise.Īddie had been married and had wanted children but suffered three miscarriages and her husband left her for another woman.

Deena was not equipped to raise a child-she was too caught up in her own life and her string of lovers.

Hope's mother, Deena, had named her Tulip, a name which Hope hated and later had legally changed to Hope-because hope is a good thing to have. But she had an inner strength that stayed with her throughout her young life. When she was born, she only weighed a little over two pounds, and the doctors didn't have much hope that she would survive. Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer is the story of Hope Yancy, a sixteen-year-old girl who is being raised by her aunt Addie.

Hope was here book