Bones of a Saint
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Set in Northern California in the late ’70s, this timeless coming-of-age story examines the nature of evil, the art of storytelling, and the possibility of redemption.
Fifteen-year-old RJ Armante has never known a life outside his deadend hometown of Arcangel, CA. The Blackjacks rule as they have for generations, luring the poorest kids into their monopoly on petty crime. For years, they’ve left RJ alone, but now they have a job for him: prey upon an old loner in town.
In spite of the danger, RJ begins to resist. He fights not only for himself, but for his younger brother, Charley, whose disability has always made RJ feel extra protective of him. For Roxanne, the girl he can’t reach, and the kids in his crew who have nothing to live for. Even for the old loner, who has secrets of his own. If RJ is to break from the Blackjacks’ hold, all of Arcangel must be free of its past.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in Arcangel Valley, Calif., in 1978, RJ Armante, 15, who has freckled skin and auburn hair, lives with his mother and five half siblings at the Canterbury Trailer Park. RJ and his best friend Manny, who is Mexican, spend the summer avoiding the local gang, the Blackjacks, while accommodating RJ's babysitting schedule. When RJ's nemesis Roxanne, who is white and "Mission Indian," lures a group of older boys to an abandoned farmhouse—and former Blackjack hangout—she locks RJ in the root cellar, not realizing that someone has already moved into the house. Angry with the owner for buying their best hideout, and wanting to leave him a "warning," the Blackjacks learn RJ was released from the cellar by the new owner and force him to deface the home's walls with pentagrams under the threat of violence. But RJ gets caught and meets the new owner, elderly John Leguin. RJ and Leguin, a former priest, develop a friendship, but the threat of violence from the Blackjacks is never far away. Conjuring the era through musical references as well as mentions of Son of Sam and Jim Jones, debut novelist Farley evokes the psychedelic '70s; RJ's candid voice will engage contemporary readers in this atmospheric coming-of-age tale that effectively knits together storytelling, religion, morality, redemption, and heredity. Ages 14–up.