Booklist
"Through random encounters and elliptical dialogue, Braunstein locates the pain in these people’s lives and makes it shimmer."
Bonnie Jo Campbell
"The reader becomes a sort of watcher peering into a variety of small-town kitchens and bedrooms, and looking hard into hearts that have been broken or shaken loose."
From the Publisher
"...a beautifully written novel...Braunstein and narrator Xe Sands make the stories and relationships easy to follow. Sands’s empathetic delivery makes this often disturbing work a pure joy...truly amazing." - AudioFile Magazine
"[Braunstein's] debut novel is an unsettling read that is also strangely compelling, though the author reserves all of her compassion for her characters, sparing none for her readers...Through random encounters and elliptical dialogue, Braunstein locates the pain in these people’s lives and makes it shimmer." - Booklist"[a] powerful debut...Narrator Xe Sands gives an unemotional, staccato delivery, joining forces with the author to keep listeners intrigued and disquieted. Highly recommended for those who relish unpredictable, complex literature cut from a unique mold." - Library Journal"an unflinching probe into the frailty of children's dreams and desires...a brave and daring book...highly original and a superb work of fiction." - The Portland Press Herald"A novel you won’t want to put down. These are characters you won’t want to stop rooting for." - Newcity Lit"The reader becomes a sort of watcher peering into a variety of small-town kitchens and bedrooms, and looking hard into hearts that have been broken or shaken loose." - Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of American Salvage"A magnificent debut filled with characters so vivid, strange, and richly imagined, you emerge feeling changed." - Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
Library Journal - Library Journal Audio
Few scenarios are as unsettling as that of a child in harm's way. This powerful debut by Braunstein (www.sarahbraunstein.com), recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award, concerns the harrowing fate of three young people—Leonora, who is kidnapped; Paul, who runs away from an abusive home; and Judith, who seeks adventure—and their struggles are mesmerizingly difficult to behold. These intersecting stories of children in acute circumstances are spun like word art, holding listeners spellbound, unnerved, confused, and helpless. Narrator Xe Sands (www.xesands.com) gives an unemotional, staccato delivery, joining forces with the author to keep listeners intrigued and disquieted. Highly recommended for those who relish unpredictable, complex literature cut from a unique mold. ["Braunstein paints gorgeous portraits of a wide variety of characters," read the review of the Norton hc, LJ 12/10; the Norton pb will publish in April 2012.—Ed.]—Judith Robinson, Dept. of Lib. & Information Studies, Univ. at Buffalo
Library Journal
In her first novel, Braunstein, a recipient of the Rona Jaffe Writers' Award, gives us a complex and multifaceted study of children who conquer bad childhoods—and children who cannot. Leonora is a good girl from a good family; she's cautious, studious, and obedient. Her family had supplied a code word that any stranger must know before she follows him. Nevertheless, she agrees to help the wrong stranger, and soon her picture is appearing on posters with the word missing. As Leonora's story unfolds slowly but straightforwardly in intermittent chapters, a larger cast of characters is introduced, with the action occurring over decades. Children grow up, and adults flash back to their childhoods. An orphan marries early, hoping to reestablish himself in a nuclear family. A 16-year-old runs away from his mother's abusive new husband. Parents protect their own children while exploiting others, and the relationships among all these characters are slowly revealed. VERDICT Braunstein paints gorgeous portraits of a wide variety of characters, all fully realized. It's tough at times to tell who's who, and how they are related, but the reader's effort is rewarded. Highly recommended to readers of contemporary fiction. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/10.]—Debbie Bogenschutz, Cincinnati State Technical & Community Coll. Lib.
MAY 2011 - AudioFile
Sarah Braunstein’s debut is a beautifully written novel of three interconnected characters and their stories, which deal with family, sex, parenthood, and reinventing oneself. Each of the three characters—12-year-old Leonora, 16-year-old Paul, and teenaged Judith—goes missing. The plot has the potential to be convoluted, but both Braunstein and narrator Xe Sands make the stories and relationships easy to follow. Sands’s empathetic delivery makes this often disturbing work a pure joy. Listeners may be put off by the seemingly stilted quality of the narration at the outset, but before long the result is truly amazing. J.L.K. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
MAY 2011 - AudioFile
Sarah Braunstein’s debut is a beautifully written novel of three interconnected characters and their stories, which deal with family, sex, parenthood, and reinventing oneself. Each of the three characters—12-year-old Leonora, 16-year-old Paul, and teenaged Judith—goes missing. The plot has the potential to be convoluted, but both Braunstein and narrator Xe Sands make the stories and relationships easy to follow. Sands’s empathetic delivery makes this often disturbing work a pure joy. Listeners may be put off by the seemingly stilted quality of the narration at the outset, but before long the result is truly amazing. J.L.K. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
