Difficult, harsh, and worthy of attention.
A young woman survives a brutal post–World War II work camp in this title that continues the series that began with 2015’s Red Stone and is loosely based on Goldstone’s mother’s experiences.
The book opens with Katya’s younger brother Albert’s brief furlough home to Königsberg for his 24th birthday. It’s November 1944, and Albert’s a Wehrmacht soldier. While the official word at the munitions factory where Katya works is that victory is near, Albert knows the Germans are losing. Katya, Albert, and their sisters are kulak orphans, ethnic German refugees from Stalin’s USSR. When the Soviet army invades East Prussia a few months later, Katya flees only to be captured and sent with other German women to a work camp in the Ural Mountains where her fluency in Russian means she’s forced to translate for her captors in addition to enduring backbreaking work, near starvation, and typhus. When Katya kills and eats one of the crows that haunt the camp, she finds a source of hope that may help her survive. Goldstone paints the horrors of war vividly and comprehensively; neither the Germans nor the Russians are the good guys. Katya, treated brutally by both sides, doesn’t seem to hold to any political ideology, although she challenges Nazi belief in Aryan superiority. The number of times Katya encounters people from her past strains credulity but not to a breaking point.
Difficult, harsh, and worthy of attention. (map, author’s note, glossary, list of places, supplemental reading) (Historical fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-55380-665-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ronsdale Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
SEEN & HEARD
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense.
Everyone believes that Salil Singh killed his girlfriend, Andrea Bell, five years ago—except Pippa Fitz-Amobi.
Pip has known and liked Sal since childhood; he’d supported her when she was being bullied in middle school. For her senior capstone project, Pip researches the disappearance of former Fairview High student Andie, last seen on April 18, 2014, by her younger sister, Becca. The original investigation concluded with most of the evidence pointing to Sal, who was found dead in the woods, apparently by suicide. Andie’s body was never recovered, and Sal was assumed by most to be guilty of abduction and murder. Unable to ignore the gaps in the case, Pip sets out to prove Sal’s innocence, beginning with interviewing his younger brother, Ravi. With his help, Pip digs deeper, unveiling unsavory facts about Andie and the real reason Sal’s friends couldn’t provide him with an alibi. But someone is watching, and Pip may be in more danger than she realizes. Pip’s sleuthing is both impressive and accessible. Online articles about the case and interview transcripts are provided throughout, and Pip’s capstone logs offer insights into her thought processes as new evidence and suspects arise. Jackson’s debut is well-executed and surprises readers with a connective web of interesting characters and motives. Pip and Andie are white, and Sal is of Indian descent.
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-9636-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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