Synopsis
This riveting young adult Gothic novel by award-winner Margaret Buffie explores themes of trauma and identity.
Children's Literature
A month after a devastating accident, Thea is well enough to leave the hospital. But the teenager feels lost, alone, and confused. Doctors call her problem "traumatic amnesia." Thea calls it terrifying. She doesn't know the awkward, ineffectual man and the frenzied pregnant woman who say they're her parents. She doesn't remember her two younger sisters or anything about herself. When fragments of her past begin to surface, Thea wonders if her troubled family life is worth recalling. Even more upsetting, the empty spaces in her mind start to fill with other memories-someone else's memories! In one world, her odd, unhappy family skids toward a crisis. In the other, shadowy figures haunt her with hints of anger, passion, and murder. The mystery centers around a garden where the two worlds fold in on each other and anything becomes possible. Margaret Buffie's lyrical evocation of mood and atmosphere enrich this intriguing, present-tense novel about a teen coming to terms with herself and her family. The ghosts of the past provide a compelling supernatural mystery, but Thea's very real fear, bewilderment, and growth always remain at center stage. Readers will be caught up in the suspense and heartache of both worlds.