FINDING HOPE

Hope misses her brother Eric, a former star hockey player who has become a meth addict. Will leaving home for a boarding school in the city help ease the pain?

Neither Hope nor anyone else knows the reason Eric has descended into drug abuse, but in the name of tough love, her father has kicked him out. Hope’s kept in touch with him, but now she’s away at school, struggling to fit in. Largely isolated, Hope finds a boyfriend from a neighboring school via email and decides she’s in love without meeting him. Meanwhile, Eric falls ever deeper into his addiction and follows Hope to the city, where he finds a home with other addicts in an abandoned building. As Eric sinks, Hope is drawn ever deeper into her online romance. Eventually the two siblings find each other. It turns out that both Eric and Hope have become the victims of cruelty, and the way each responds helps to resolve the story. Nelson alternates chapters between Hope and Eric, each narrating in the first person, with clear parallels drawn between the two. The alternating format works effectively to maintain tension, and readers will find themselves worrying and wondering to the end if either will be saved.

A double story that draws readers in.