PSYCHE IN A DRESS

Using free verse and borrowing familiar archetypes from Greek mythology, Block tells a story of enduring love and the cyclical nature of life. Psyche, the daughter of an actress and a B-list horror film director, plays out the myths of Echo, Eurydice, Persephone and Demeter in her search for love and self-acceptance. Believing herself not worthy of her true love, she commits herself to one, then another doomed relationship, before her long-lost mother tries to pull her back from the underworld. When she becomes a mother herself, Psyche sees herself in her daughter, and comes to the realization that she was good enough all along. Block’s perennial fans won’t be disappointed in her first solo work since winning the Margaret A. Edwards award in 2005; this is studded with her signature themes of abuse, self-discovery and the transformative power of love. Mature teens will appreciate these modernized myths as the perfect vehicle for showcasing Block’s talent for creating an illusory, though emotionally realistic, world that is both ethereal and edgy. (Fiction. YA)