A Summer with the Hermit King

1888. Auggie Rose runs away from the orphanage he had been living at since his parents died six months prior. He is small for his age (16) and is picked on by older and bigger boys. He decides to live out on Presque Isle, a beautiful peninsula on the southern shores of Lake Erie in Pennsylvania. He wants to be a hermit like the local hermit celebrity, Joe Root, who had been calling Presque Isle home for many years. On his journey to the peninsula, Auggie is witness to a murder, though the murderer does not know he was being watched. Auggie tries to put the incident from his mind and makes friends with a kitchen worker, Maisy, who works at a hotel at the foot of the peninsula. She helps out Auggie as he settles into his new life, and they become fast friends. Auggie is also befriended by Joe Root who is happy to help him settle in as a hermit on the peninsula. The entire time, he cannot get the murder out of his head. He helps a reluctant detective working on the case, and the more digging he does, the more he believes the murder has something to do with the peninsula itself, and Joe Root seems to be in the crosshairs. As Maisy helps Auggie through his struggles living like a hermit, they slowly become closer until the bond they share becomes stronger than mere friendship. The story builds to a climax when Auggie discovers who the murderer is, and the murderer now knows there was a witness.