Abstract
This submission of Secrets on the Shores of Lake Minnetonka is part of a full-length upper middle grade novel. This book spans multiple genres, namely historical fiction, mystery, and coming-of age. It is set in the summer of 1883 in the town of Minnetonka Beach on Lake Minnetonka, which is approximately twenty miles west of Minneapolis. My protagonist is Emily Whittaker, an adventure-loving, independent 12-year-old who lives with her upper class family on Lake Minnetonka. Her best friend is Mabel Harris, a 13-year-old Black girl working at the nearby Hotel Lafayette as a maid. Together, the friends navigate classism, racism, and corrupt Gilded Age businessmen as they work to discover and prevent an assassination.