"It's not the scars on your body that really matter. It's the ones that are left on your soul. They are the ones that don't go away." Teenagers Julie, Heather, and Petra are grappling with the choices they face growing up on Long Island in the late 1960s. Julie and Heather are both trying to navigate relationships with their parents when they meet Petra and Petra's mother, Lydia. Lydia and her family have just returned to their ancestral home after a 25-year absence and Petra soon finds she is not quite welcome because of an unknown past. While reclaiming a tree house that once belonged to Lydia, the girls find a tin box filled with old letters from Petra's great grandmother, Charlotte. Secrets begin to be revealed as the letters detail events from 1912 and a forbidden love affair set against the construction of The Ashokan Reservoir in upstate New York. The first in a trilogy, The Tin Box Secret is a fascinating look at friendship, family, the challenges we face, and the choices we make to deal with those challenges.