When the Little Wings Are Stronger is the coming of age story of a young girl from the southern Ozarks in Missouri during the period before and at the beginning of the United States involvement in World War II.

Raised in post-depression times in a poor but loving Christian family with strong ethical beliefs that were inparted to the entire family, Shandol must learn to identify her own desires for her future­-and choose wisely, at the risk of marrying the wrong man, or worse still, the disapproval of her family.

Having adhered to her family standards through adolescence, Shandol manages to maintain a reputation of unreproachable ethics and behavior to match. But will her "first love" be her undoing, or will good sense and judgement win out?