Even more impressive than Sachs's prodigious output is her ability to keep material fresh, relevant and convincing. Readers are certain to empathize with her newest protagonist, Molly, an 11-year-old orphan who resists confronting truths about the past. Molly looks forward to seeing her older sister Beth again after their eight-year separation, but when Beth arrives for a visit with her wealthy adoptive mother, she seems to carry a chip on her shoulder and is appallingly rude to Aunt Karen, Molly's guardian. The reasons for Beth's deep-rooted anger do not become clear until the novel's final pages, when family secrets begin to unravel during a dinner party. Rather than focusing on the guilt of particular characters, the author concentrates on relating their various responses to unfortunate circumstances. As always, her writing is sensitive and moving. Resolutions do not come easily; but by the end of the story readers will sense that the expression of painful memories leads to understanding and forgiveness. Ages 10-14.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6 --Warm, loving, and working class, Molly's adoptive family suits her. Beth, her older sister, lives across the continent with a distant, wealthy family, and the sisters haven't met in eight years, since their parents' death. This brief novel takes place at their reunion, in Molly's New York apartment, in the span of a little more than 24 hours, and is told in easy contemporary dialogue. In the process, Molly, her mother, and father are revealed with clarity, although other characters are less complete. The visit becomes a screen upon which the sisters' pasts are cast. Beth is alternately angry and loving, while Molly experiences inexplicable feelings of fear. At an impromptu party planned by Molly's eager-to-please mother (who is also the girls' biological aunt), emotions and memory collide. Beth accuses her aunt of abandoning her, and Molly at last recollects the accident in which her parents died. Finally, readers see that healing begins at last, and they may be exhausted from witnessing the entire spectrum of human emotion in the final three chapters. In an admirable effort, Sachs has assayed a psychological suspense story. However, because there is negligible foreshadowing of Molly's recollection, and no clues at all to her mother's revelations, the effort is weak, and the result is melodrama. Although the book is flawed, young readers may enjoy the fairy-tale feeling of the contrast in the sisters' circumstances and the roller-coaster ride to the resolution. --Carolyn Noah, Central Mass. Regional Lib . System, Worcester, MA
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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