About the Author:
MARTYN BEDFORD has written five adult novels, including The Houdini Girl, and one previous novel for young adults, Flip. A former journalist, he teaches creative writing at Leeds Trinity University College and lives in West Yorkshire, England, with his wife and two daughters. The author lives in West Yorkshire, UK.
From Booklist:
*Starred Review* Fifteen-year-old Shiv and her 12-year-old brother, Declan, accompany their parents to Greece for a two-week vacation. Just before they are scheduled to leave, tragedy strikes and three of them return home to bury the fourth. Shiv is consumed by guilt and overwhelmed by grief, believing beyond the shadow of a doubt that Declan’s death was completely her fault. Unable to function, Shiv allows herself to become a resident at the Korsakoff Clinic, where she will undergo their brand of nontraditional, progressive treatment. Five other teens who bear the wreckage of similar losses constitute the rest of the residents. When asked what she would have done differently, Shiv struggles to find an answer. She is unable to erase the happy time spent on the island with Nikos, the handsome young man with whom both Shiv and Declan were enamored, yet Nikos figures prominently in the late-night motorcycle race on the steep and winding roads of the island that resulted in grievous injuries and death. Alternating chronological stories of the vacation with the stay at the clinic, Bedford skillfully pushes and pulls at the reader’s emotions while carefully revealing the details of the backstory and the aftermath until the two converge. Hand this compelling novel to readers who thrive on complex narratives. Grades 7-12. --Jeanne Fredriksen
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