THE JUNIPER GAME

A 14-year-old finds herself psychically linked with a young woman who was burned as a witch in medieval England. Juniper, whose wide interests include reincarnation and time travel, drags feckless Dylan Pidgley into her experiments with telepathy because he is a marvelous artist and can draw the scenes she transmits. Some of these are from the past— experiences of a young mother and herb-wife, Joanna. Juniper's mother warns Dylan that Juniper can be heedless, but Dylan is too fascinated by Juniper and by his own vision of Joanna's plight to withdraw. Events rush to a conclusion as Joanna is tried by the ordeal of water and then burned, with Juniper in danger of being pulled into a 20th-century parallel. Fortunately, Juniper and Dylan together find the strength to shield Joanna from the agony of her burning. With vividly depicted, believable characters, this is superior fantasy. Though Dylan is drawn like a moth to Juniper's flame, she soon realizes that he has a strength and grace that her sexier, older boyfriend lacks. Playing their drama against the death of a young woman in the past—whose love of knowledge resembles Juniper's, but whose quest leads to tragedy rather than love—gives the story poignancy and depth. (Fiction. 12+)*justify no*