Marie-Grace has just arrived in New Orleans and she begins to make friends and enjoys singing but she is shy.

Cecile is anxious for Mardi Gras and a new costume and she also makes a new friend named Marie-Grace Gardner.

An affluent black family fights against illness and death when a terrible outbreak of yellow fever strikes New Orleans in the summer of 1853.

When Marie-Grace learns that the orphan dropped at her father's doorstep may be in terrible danger, she and her friend Cécile devise a plan to protect the child--and help the other orphans, as well. Simultaneous.

Eleven-year-old Cécile Rey searches through many corners of 1854 New Orleans seeking a necklace, borrowed from her Tante Tay, that disappeared as she was exiting a crowded showboat. Includes facts about the 1850s.

Marie-Grace is excited that a well-known English opera company will perform in New Orleans - at the same theater where she takes singing lessons from Aunt Océane. Even better, her aunt has gotten a role in the opera. As Marie-Grace and her friend, Cé

Marie-Grace can't wait to begin her journey up the Mississippi River with her father. The steamboat they're traveling on is crowded with all sorts of interesting passengers, including Wilhelmina Newman, a girl Marie-Grace's age. Wilhelmina is traveling alone, and she's carrying a secret in one of her trunks--clues to hidden Gold Rush treasure.