A heartfelt, emotionally trenchant coming-of-age adventure with a lightly mystical bent.Life would be wonderful for twelve-year-old Jonathon Brae if he weren’t cursed with “loony blues,” azure eyes that cause the brown-eyed, orchard-growing Valley people to regard him with fear and suspicion. In this imaginative, internally cohesive fantasy, blue eyes can only mean two things: that the recipient will go mad, or worse, that he’s a Dalriada, a society of barbarous folk who live high in the mountains and are rumored to have flaming horns and mysterious powers. Jonathon fears something more personal—that the brown-eyed stalwart he considers his father isn’t really biological kin. Then Jonathon is accused of causing an outbreak of tree disease and learns that his recently murdered mother is part Dalriada. Heartbroken, he leaves the Valley and makes the perilous journey to Dalriada territory where he tests his manhood, reconciles the various aspects of his personality, and, in an unpredictable but plausible conclusion, finds out why he has blue eyes. This is Calhoun’s first YA novel, and although it is overlong, with balky patches, she neatly joins the psychological and adventurous aspects of a boy’s journey to adulthood with its more enigmatic side. (Fiction. 13-15)
Pub Date: May 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-890817-10-4
Page Count: 286
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1999
Against a medieval setting far away and long ago, Jordan crafts a passionate and sensuous tale. Marnie, 15, comes to Torcurra, newly wed to a lord twice her age. He brings her to a tumbledown cottage that belonged to an ancestor, and in two days falls to his death in a drunken stupor. The villagers are deeply suspicious of Marnie’s role in his death, and become more so when she befriends a wild boy believed to be possessed by demons. Marnie finds out that Raver, as he is called, is actually deaf; she renames him Raven and begins to communicate with him in rudimentary sign language. Her only friend is the village priest, who finds her recalcitrant but full of goodness. Beyond some bodice-ripper elements, Jordan adeptly conveys the rhythms of ancient country life, of the tides and the plantings, of festival and gossip; also nicely spun out is the blossoming romance between Raven and Marnie. Fire and sweetness, the pulse of daily existence, how to cope with differences, and the several kinds of love are all present, wrapped in a page-turner to keep readers enthralled. (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: May 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-689-82140-9
Page Count: 266
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1999
A teenager finds his way out from overwhelming grief in this poignant story from Hawes. Franklin takes his funny, beloved classmate Rosey Mishimi’s death in a car crash so hard that six months later he’s still mired in depression, walled off from his mother, therapist, and friends, filling his journal with present-tense memories. Then Rosey reappears, almost her old bubbly self but insubstantial, invisible to everyone else—except, perhaps, her dying Japanese grandmother. Is she a ghost, or just a figment? While he doesn’t entirely rule out the latter, Franklin is eager to have Rosey back on any terms, despite the understandable dismay of those around him. In the end, it doesn’t matter; Rosey fades away, but slowly enough to give Franklin a chance to say goodbye, to understand that she will always be with him, and to accept the fact that he still has a life to live. Hawes keeps Rosey’s exact nature ambiguous without being coy; that, along with the distinct characters and a caring supporting cast, make this a thoughtful variation on the often-explored theme of coping with loss. (Fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8027-8685-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1999
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