Refuge Cove

The guy had one hand on my throat and I was pinned down. His other hand held a knife. Then I looked in his eyes and realized that he was as scared as I was. He was breathing hard as he tried to get control of himself. He was trying to say something. "You tell, I kill," was what I finally made out. Greg is an avid sailor. On a solo trip off the rugged Newfoundland coast, he stumbles upon a family of desperate refugees stranded in a lifeboat. Fearing for their lives if they are deported to their homeland, the family convinces Greg to help them, and keep their existence secret. He promises not to call the authorities and takes the family home. When his plan begins to unravel, and the family flees into the teeth of an oncoming storm, Greg goes after them. A thrilling story that demonstrates the importance of community and the power of conviction, Refuge Cove is also an exciting adventure. Along with being an avid surfer, Lesley Choyce is an accomplished author and teaches university English.

Lucy Schall - VOYA

This is a multi-book review. These three pattern novels, restricted by length, employ interesting but underdeveloped plots and characters. Separated from his father and in new territory with a strong, single mother, a young man in each story meets an attractive girl, receives support from a stable older man, succeeds in an intercultural experience, and makes independent choices with positive results in relation to his father's character. The stories by Butcher and Fitch employ shock openings a gory suicide, purple condoms but authentic teen voices do not have the time to develop the characters' confrontations with complex problems. In The Hemingway Tradition, Butcher's protagonist fears that he is gay, as is his father, a talented writer and athlete. After a racial incident, Shaw writes in an editorial for the school paper, "P is for People-not Prejudice." He wins praise from peers and adults and accepts his father's homosexuality and perhaps his own. The reader, never seeing the article, is unable to judge Shaw's realization. In One More Step, Fitch's character deals with his dysfunctional biological parents and his "steps". Mom marries her third serious boyfriend. Dad has a new family and a drinking problem. With two brief and mild rebellions, the protagonist adjusts even though his grandfather, his stable father figure, dies unexpectedly. In Refuge Cove, Gregg rescues and hides boat refugees. The fearful family, because of an infatuation between Gregg and their daughter, trusts him. Immigration briefly takes Gregg's mother into custody, but both the government and the town support the family. Other novels such as Jean Ferris's Eight Seconds (Harcourt, 2000), Caroline Cooney's TheTerrorist (Scholastic, 1997) and David Klass's Home of the Braves (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2002) present more thought-provoking, realistic, and motivating treatments of similar issues. VOYA CODES: 2Q 2P M J (Better editing or work by the author might have warranted a 3Q; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2002, Orca Soundings/Orca, 89p,