THE SHIP WHO SANG

Helva, hopelessly deformed at birth, becomes one of the ""shell people"" whose brains will eventually be used to monitor space ships. Helva makes a happy adjustment (her avocation is singing from basso profundo to swinging soprano) until the death of her first male partner. The author manages the tricky balance of keeping Helva's physical and psychological cogs in gear as she passes from sorrowing adolescence to sensible womanhood on equally traumatic journeys. Helva should transport a young feminine audience.