Beachmont Letters

Publishers Weekly

Although this novel is set nearly 60 years ago in the WWII era, readers will have no trouble relating to 17-year-old Eleanor, a girl longing for love and acceptance. Eleanor believes that her life will never be normal again after a tragic fire kills her father and leaves her face permanently scarred. Confronted with mounting bills, her family must sell their house and move to a beachside community where strangers' averted glances are a constant reminder to Eleanor that she is different. The teen finds solace in her correspondence with a soldier who knows nothing of her disfigurement. As the letters become more intimate, however, Eleanor grows uneasy, knowing that the relationship she has built with Cpl. Robert Bettencourt is based on deception. In this compassionately rendered story, Twomey (Charlotte's Choice) eloquently expresses the fluctuating moods of her heroine. Eleanor's despair over her marred skin ("Melted wax, that's what her scars felt like") is as vividly portrayed as her displaced anger at her father for sacrificing his life to save hers. When financial concerns force her to take a job in a pharmacy, Eleanor's willingness to accept herself and trust others grows, slowly and convincingly. Even as readers follow Eleanor's painful trials, they will be inspired by her courage and her unflagging loyalty to newfound friends. Ages 9-12. (Mar.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature

Eleanor Driscoll's once happy life is totally changed. In a terrible fire, Eleanor lost both her father and her pretty face. She is now scarred in body and heart, missing her father and their old life. Mrs. Driscoll, a widow with two children to support, struggles to make ends meet. Eleanor begins to take small and sometimes stumbling steps to regain her life. Overcoming her fear of being stared and talked about, Eleanor gets a job, determined to help her mother out by bringing in some much needed money. Bit by bit she comes of out her shell, making a few friends, gaining confidence. One of Eleanor's biggest joys is to read letters from and write letters to a young man, a soldier about to go to war. Robert becomes more and more important to her and it isn't long before Eleanor has fallen a little in love with the stranger. Eleanor tells Robert everything about her life—the people she meets, her family and what happened to her beloved father. Robert becomes Eleanor's confidant and friend, the one person she can 'talk' to about everything—except about her poor 'melted' face. Only when it's too late does she have the courage to tell Robert about her scars. The author has created a moving and heart-wrenching tale about a young woman trying to reconcile herself with loss and grief. Eleanor has to learn to live with her disfigurement and accept that people will always stare and make comments. She also has to learn how to trust, and to open up to the kind and loving people who see past the scars and love the Eleanor underneath. 'Watching' this brave and lovable girl struggle with life is enriching, and we celebrate with her when she takes the small steps towards recovery and hopefully,happiness. 2003, Boyds Mills Press,
— Marya Jansen-Gruber

School Library Journal

Gr 7-10-A moving novel set in Massachusetts in 1944. Attractive, popular Eleanor was being treated to a birthday dinner at the glamorous Palm Gardens when a fire broke out, burning her face and chest and taking her father's life. The resulting financial difficulties and the necessary move mean a change in school and friends. All that is left of the 17-year-old's former world is her mother, who is strained with grief and work, and her adoring, sometimes aggravating little sister. Eleanor struggles against her newly acquired social phobia to find employment in a kindly neighbor's pharmacy. She begins to make friends, go to the movies, and learn to drive but there are always heartbreaking setbacks as people react to her horrific scars. There are even problems with the brightest, most secret part of her life, a correspondence begun as a school project with a soldier being trained to go overseas. Robert falls in love with her words, her intelligence-and a picture she sent him taken before the fire. Eleanor is unable to mail the letters she has written telling him the truth. A masterful psychological writer, Twomey chooses not to tell Eleanor's story in strict chronological order, but to reveal it as Eleanor herself can bear to make the connections and discoveries. Although this is a very different story than her intensely written Charlotte's Choice (Boyds Mills, 2001), both have strong heroines and emphasize our ability to choose happiness even in difficult times.-Cindy Darling Codell, Clark Middle School, Winchester, KY Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

While WWII rages on, Americans are making sacrifices to help the war effort; 17-year-old Eleanor Driscoll’s sacrifices are not optional. Severely burned in a fire while celebrating her 16th birthday, a fire that also claimed her devoted father, Eleanor now deals with averted eyes, ridicule, and the misconception that she’s now an invalid. What keeps Eleanor’s spirit alive is correspondence with Robert, a young soldier waiting to be sent to Europe, with whom she shares her thoughts and feelings--except those related to the fire. As she begins a summer job, makes new friends, and reveals her scarred face to the world more and more, she falls in love with Robert and trusts that he can accept her real self. When tragedy from the war strikes Eleanor’s ocean-front town, she observes how those around her deal with their own pain and grief and finds the determination to go on with life in her own bravery, gift for writing, and supportive family and friends. Twomey (Charlotte’s Choice, not reviewed) blends expressions and popular culture from the time period with realistic characters and sentiments. The author also develops many interesting story lines, from the details of the fire to Eleanor’s reverie and even anger toward her father to Robert’s own secret. Part historical fiction, part romance, this moving tale for teenage girls has a gratifying conclusion refreshingly free of clichés. (Historical fiction. 11-15)