The setup for this debut novel is delectable: it’s 1930, the country is tumbling into depression, and 15-year-old Thea has done something bad enough to get her sent from Florida to an elite year-round “camp” in North Carolina where, at least at first, the effects of the economy are kept at bay while affluent Southern girls become “ladies.” DiScalfani, who grew up around horses, is at her best when recreating the intuition and strength of girls in the saddle. Otherwise Thea’s narration feels flattened by history and the characters she encounters never achieve dimensionality. The build toward the revelation of Thea’s crime is drawn out, sapping the reveal of drama, but the account of Thea’s emerging sexuality provides meaningful reflections on the potency of teenage desire. Here too, however, DiScalfani seems distanced from her characters, relying on declarations such as “I was not weak,” “I was angry,” and “I was glum” when exploring the tension of conflicting feelings. Though there are many twists and turns, the prose numbs the pleasure of reading about even the most forbidden of Thea’s trysts. Agent: Dorian Karchmar, WME Entertainment. (June)
Sometimes you want your beach reads as light and fluffy as the foam atop a piña colada. And sometimes you want something with a little more heft, a book more suited to reading alongside a Dark and Stormy. When you’re looking for the kind of beach reading that won’t fade from memory even faster than […]
If you miss camp like crazy but are too old to be a counselor, let alone a camper, don’t fret: reading a camp-themed book will send you right back to the glory days of rafts and sports and romance and freedom. I recommend starting with the newly released The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls., by Anton […]