Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone-and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra-can save them. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs.

12-14)Īdventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.Įlisa-Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle-has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a diversion. Besides the mostly off-stage issue of a parent’s severe illness there’s not much here to challenge most readers-driving, beer-drinking, divorce, a moment of surprise at the mothers smoking medicinal pot together. In the background the two mothers renew their friendship each year, and Lauren, Belly’s mother, provides support for her friend-if not, unfortunately, for the children-in Susannah’s losing battle with breast cancer. Belly’s dawning awareness of her sexuality and that of the boys is a strong theme, as is the sense of summer as a separate and reflective time and place: Readers get glimpses of kisses on the beach, her best friend’s flirtations during one summer’s visit, a first date. Han’s leisurely paced, somewhat somber narrative revisits several beach-house summers in flashback through the eyes of now 15-year-old Isabel, known to all as Belly.īelly measures her growing self by these summers and by her lifelong relationship with the older boys, her brother and her mother’s best friend’s two sons. A worthy successor to Hickman's Jericho (1994), this is a thoughtful look at a piece of religious history and is a good choice for readers interested in the Shakers.

Faced with the momentous choice of whether to embrace her freedom when it is offered or to remain as Mary's protector, Susannah makes a decision that affects the rest of her life. While living under the constant surveillance of the irascible Sister Olive Gatewood, Susannah befriends Mary, a small child whose mother has left the Believers, as they are called, and is now desperate to get her daughter back. He joins a small band of Shakers whose emphasis on communal values rather than the bond between parent and child dismays Susannah. After the death of his wife, Susannah's father desperately seeks stability and security.

Hickman explores the question of how deeply personal beliefs should be subordinated in the name of fitting into a religious community, in a tightly woven coming-of-age story based on an 1910 incident involving a group of Shakers near Lebanon, Ohio.

Susannah by janet hickman