The war is over, but for thirteen-year-old Rachel, the battle has just begun. Putting childhood behind her, she knows what she wants – to prove she has acting talent worthy of the school drama club, and what she doesn’t want – to romantically fall for someone completely inappropriate. Worries about her veteran brother’s failing health and repugnance at her mother’s unexpected and unwanted pregnancy drive her to seek solace from a seemingly sympathetic, but self-serving teacher. The lies she tells herself hoping to reach solutions to the problems complicating her life merely function to make matters worse. Ultimately, she finds a way to come to terms with life as it reaches an end and life as it begins.
- ISBN: 9781770493131
- Author: Johnston, Julie
- Published: 2013 , Tundra Books
- Themes: Adults and children, Brother and sister, families, growing up, postwar, Trauma of war, World War II
- Descriptors: Canada, Fiction, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Realistic Fiction, Young Adult (ages 14-18)