A warm, gentle work with well-drawn characters and brisk pacing celebrating female friendship and independence.
An epistolary novel unfolding through letters, primarily round-robin correspondence between three young women in late-19th-century Britain.
Friends Tirzah, Polly, and Sophia were at school together and are now out in the world seeking their futures. Tirzah bookends the novel with her letters: A girl “in misery and exile,” she feels trapped and lonely in her grandmother’s house in Perthshire. Her story unfolds through her confinement, her actions to change her circumstances, and readers’ understanding of her mysterious childhood. Polly—the novel’s moral center—teaches in an orphanage in Liverpool. Her missives detail her happy family life, dedication to her students, and romance with the superintendent. Sophia, meanwhile, is in London with her aunt’s family during her first “Season,” where she feels duty-bound to secure a financially advantageous marriage. Her letters describe parties and suitors and her conflicting emotions around her prospects, and they introduce readers to the unconventional love match she eventually makes. The three girls, who are cued white, encourage each other’s best selves and turn tropes on their heads as they find some control over their lives despite their circumstances. This clever novel’s strength lies in its structure: The format effectively supports the drama, character development, voice, and pacing, even while it asks readers to pay attention and fill in details—or wait to see what the next letter will reveal.
A warm, gentle work with well-drawn characters and brisk pacing celebrating female friendship and independence. (Historical fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781536223194
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Walker US/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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