More new Fiction for May
Nelson, R. A. Breathe My Name. YA/ NEL
18 year-old Frances Robinson has a perfect life – adoptive parents who love her, a cute, compassionate boyfriend, and a rock-solid best friend. But her childhood was marred by a horrific tragedy: her mother killed her three younger sisters, one by one, and nearly killed Frances. A jury judged her mentally ill, but now she is out of prison and in a halfway house – and she wants to see Frances again. Very skillfully written, explores topics of mental illness, survivor’s guilt, and the need for answers when something terrible happens. Easy, absorbing read, 314 pp.
Compestine, Ying Chang. Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party. YA/ COM
Growing up during the last, frightening years of the Cultural Revolution in China (1972-1976), Ling witnesses the gradual breakdown of society in her small village. Her parents, both doctors, are under suspicion for being “enemies of the people,” and her neighbors and friends are taken away to be “re-educated.” As Chairman Mao’s re-education plans take over, people have less time to farm or work – so food, water, and electricity become scarce. Ling sees neighbors turn against each other, physically and mentally, in their fear and desperation. This is an intense story of a hard and tragic time in China’s recent history. Easy read, 243 pp.
Staub, Wendy Corsi. Believing. YA/ STA
Picking up the story where her last book (Awakening) ended, Staub continues the paranormal events that surround her heroine, Calla. Calla is living with her grandma, who is a registered medium, in the Spiritualist town of Lily Dale, NY. Calla is visited by the spirit of a dead girl who was abducted and murdered, and who pleads with Calla to help other girls targeted by the killer. So Calla, already struggling with the recent death of her mother, the separation from her father (who is living in California), a failed relationship with her college-age boyfriend, and her new talents as a psychic, is now trying to bring the killer to justice – before she becomes his next pretty victim. Easy, eerie read, 239 pp.
Von Ziegesar, Cecily. Gossip Girl: The Carlyles. YA/ VON
Bibliographic Information © 2008 Noël Zethmayr
