Where It Stops, Nobody Knows

As Nina Lewis and her mother travel across the country, spending little time in any one place, she begins to realize they are not looking for something, but running away

Grade 7-10 In her first young adult novel, Ehrlich successfully creates an undercurrent of suspense that leads to an unusual twist while seemingly telling a more standard story of a teen's concerns. Nina Lewis has led a fairly normal life, except that she and her single mother have never lived in one place for very long. Now, in junior high school with a boy interested in her, Nina would like to settle down, but her mother insists that they continue to move. Nina realizes that her mother is fleeing from someone or something, and discovers that she has several sets of false identification, hidden stacks of money, and other secrets. In a surprising and moving climax, Nina learns that the woman she thought was her mother actually kidnapped her when she was a baby, and they have been running to avoid discovery. The juxtaposition of this horrifying concept with Nina's adolescent angst is handled ably, and the whole is very convincing. Ehrlich captures the concerns of a teen beginning school in a new environment and provides a real sense of the half dozen cities in which this book takes place. The climactic scene comes as a surprise, and it makes readers reexamine all that has come before. A novel that will stay with readers long after they close the book. David Gale, "School Library Journal"
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ehrlich, who has retold many popular stories and fairy tales, has written her first novel, a strong, passionate story of a teenager's search for identity. Nina's life with her mother, Joyce, is a vagabond existence; they travel cross-country in their van with all their possessions, stopping in one town for six months, in the next one for a year. When they settle in Montpelier, Vt. Joyce easily finds a job and an apartment, and enrolls Nina in eighth grade. Nina has never questioned her mother's way of life, but conflicts begin to ariseshe finds a boyfriend and then companionship on the basketball teambut Joyce forbids her to travel with the team. When Nina protests, Joyce makes them leave town again. In the new town, Nina begins to see patterns: she is allowed no social life at all, and when the authorities show concern, Joyce moves them again, this time to Venice, Calif. Joyce's stories begin to unravel, and when Nina discovers the truth about her mother, it is devastating. Ehrlich has taken a small news item and turned it into realistic suspense, with an underlying theme of a teenager's quest for identity. A provocative, compelling, and ultimately satisfying read. Ages 11-up.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.