SPEAKING TO MIRANDA

Ruby has grown up in Australia with Rob, who lived with her mother, Emma, the year before Emma's death 16 years ago; Rob adopted the two-year-old Ruby when he could find no trace of Emma's family or past. Now leaving school, Ruby resolves to learn more about her mysterious mother. She garners enough clues to send her to New Zealand and, through luck, coincidence, and perseverance, to her mother's Maori husband and his family. Emma's story is tragic and complicated; in the course of unraveling it, Ruby makes some decisions about her own life, including staying on in Emma's house, which is still just as she left it. It's a classic scenario, spiced with the character's multiple names (``Emma'' was really Magda, while Ruby was the name of her first baby, who died; our ``Ruby'' was first named Miranda—also the name of her imaginary friend—and the name she takes again at the end), and with the hint of a closer relationship to come for Rob and ``Miranda.'' Fairly plausible for the genre, and smoothly written; an entertaining read. (Fiction. 12-16)