Lyddie is a 1991 novel written by Katherine Paterson. Set in the 19th century, this is a story of determination and personal growth. When thirteen-year-old Lyddie and her younger brother are hired out as indentured servants to help pay off their family's debts, Lyddie is determined to find a way to reunite her family. Plot summary Lyddie, a 13-year-old girl and her family, are in their cabin in 1843 when a bear enters. Lyddie saves the family by staring down the bear long enough for her family to climb up to the loft. The bear leaves with no one harmed, but some of their possessions broken. Throughout the rest of the book, Lyddie's troubles are often represented as "bears". Lyddie must perform her parents' duties, as her father left for the gold rush and her mother is insane. Lyddie's mother sees the bear as the devil and moves in with her sister, Clarissa, and her husband, Judah. She takes Lyddie's younger siblings Rachel and Agnes with her; Lyddie and her brother Charlie refuse to leave because they believe their father will return. While at the house, they receive a letter from their mother, who tells them she signed them up for jobs in the village and they have been hired out as indentured servants. Charlie jokes about her horrible spelling, which becomes an inside joke, "We can stil hop" instead of "We can still hope". She learns how to weave and other similar tasks. Lyddie is sent to work at Cutler's Tavern as a housemaid, and Charlie is sent to work at the Baker's mill. They are now both indentured servants. They are driven there by the Stevenses, a Quaker family; Luke Stevens is very kind to Lyddie and Charlie. At the tavern, Lyddie is treated almost as a slave. The mistress there is cruel, but the cook, Triphena, is kind to Lyddie, and they become friends. At the inn, she jobs working on looms at mills in Lowell, Massachusetts. But she does not take the job, because her mother signed her up for the tavern job. When the mistress is away on a trip, Lyddie goes home. In her house, she finds a runaway slave named Ezekiel Freeman, an ex-preacher who educated himself by using the Bible. Before she leaves, she lends him the money she and Charlie received for a calf they sold. When she returns to the