Second Chances
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
A coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of "peace, love, rock and roll," and the Vietnam War.
It’s the summer of 1971, and fifteen-year-old Darlene travels with her mother to cottage country. This year her wild cousin, Elizabeth, is staying with them in the hopes that time away from Toronto will straighten her out – but Elizabeth has other plans. It’s her summer mission to torment Darlene by manipulating her friends and seducing every eligible male in her path. Meanwhile, Darlene is captivated by the mysterious strangers who rent the cottage down the road, particularly free-spirited Candy, who tells stories of traipsing across the United States with rock stars. Darlene is also friends with a reclusive journalist who will stop at nothing to pen the ultimate anti-war story. She, too, secretly dreams of becoming a writer, but knows that her father will never allow it. When the connections between the young strangers and the war start to become clear, Darlene is presented with more choices than she would like.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Chapman (Trail of Secrets) introduces a precocious 15-year-old named Darlene who "ache to do something with my life: not to look back at the end and think all I'd been was ordinary." Darlene spends the summer of 1971 at the cottage country of Cedar Lake, outside Ottawa, with her mother and manipulative older cousin, Elizabeth, whose parents sent her there to curb her rebellious behavior. The summer looks to be bleak, at first: Darlene's crush has found someone new, her friends and brother aren't around, and the thrilling experiences she's after elude her grasp. But as Darlene helps her mother at the family store, dodges her father (who's been unstable since Darlene's sister's death), visits her vehemently political writing mentor, and spends time with her hippie neighbors, Darlene's life finally begins to feel like her own. Chapman reveals her heroine's secret emotions and the circumstances of her family's turmoil through believable dialogue and interactions, confidently distilling the sizzling expectations and small disappointments of a girl just beginning to understand the complexity of personal relationships and the far-reaching effects of world events. Ages 12 up.
