The Y Sapphires

Sylvie has more problems than she can handle. At 12 years old, she's a little too tall and a little too fat, and lost in the new world of high school. She's funny, she's lovable and she reads people accurately.


Sylvie tries to find her way by joining a club, The Y Sapphires, for the "not-so-popular." She also begins a friendship with a more sophisticated but troubled classmate who loses herself in a sexual relationship. Sylvie wants to belong but doesn't want to give up being her authentic self. She ends up in a battle with the bossy leader of the Sapphires.


She tries to discover who she is and what type of a woman she wants to grow up to be. Can she be true to herself and still stay part of the club she loves?


What is important to Sylvie is friendship - true, open and honest. Friends accept each other, support each other, and are there in good times and bad.


This story is about peer pressure, self-awakening and love. The protagonist goes through adolescent angst and growing pains. We love her and laugh with her and feel for her. There is much humor, pathos and genuine dialogue in this novel. Sylvie could be seen as the female side of Holden Caulfield in "Catcher in the Rye."


All in all, this novel creates a tender nostalgia for all of us who have gone through adolescence and wondered who we are and where we belong.