Hope Was Here - Joan Bauer

The protagonist of this story, Hope, was abandoned by her mother as an infant and has been raised by her aunt. Her aunt is the chef at various diners, and she is a waitress. Her mother, also a waitress, shows up every few years before disappearing just as quickly. Hope has no idea who her father is, but she has kept a scrapbook of her life to show him when they finally meet.

After being swindled by one restaurant owner and several moves to different states and cities, Hope and her Aunt Addie (read: Mother) move to Mulhoney, Wisconsin, to work in a restaurant owned by G.T. Stoop who has recently been diagnosed with cancer.

Soon after their move, G.T. announces he is running for mayor against Eli Millstone, the man who has been running Mulhoney uncontested for years. G.T. runs his campaign on honesty, and points out to town residents that Millstone has been allowing the large dairy in town to not pay their taxes, along with a lot of other corruption.

Throughout the book, Addie and Hope settle into their roles at the Welcome Stairways Diner and forge strong friendships with their coworkers.

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Eventually, G.T. proposes to Addie, and they get married. G.T. asks Hope if he can adopt her, and she feels she has finally found her father. She shows him every detail of her scrapbook to catch him up on her life.

Around the same time, Braverman, another cook at the diner, begins dating Hope.

G.T.'s cancer goes into remission, but Millstone plants doubts in the residents' minds by playing ads saying his cancer is actually getting worse.

It is announced that Millstone has won the election. However, when Hope studies a list of registered voters in her Social Studies course, she sees the name of one of the diner's frequent customers who says he has never registered to vote and never will. She thanks the man for voting the next time she sees him, and in his cantakerous way, he expresses that he never registered to vote. It is quickly uncovered that Millstone participated in election fraud, and G.T. assumes his role as mayor.

Sadly, G.T.'s cancer comes back a couple of years later, but not before turning around Mulhoney or the lives of Addie and Hope.