Banner by the wayside

the long version

"This is a picaresque novel set pre-Civil War on the Erie Canal. Durie Edwards is a female foundling, raised as a boy in a bookshop. She falls in with traveling players, thieves, con men, disreputable women (and men), as she tries to sort out the truth from the pious lies told to her, and eventually finding love. Durie's essential innocence is used to bring out the characters of the people she meets. Life on the canal boats is, as far as I can tell, accurately presented. It's a slice of Americana."--Goodreads