Gr 8 Up In 1989, 15-year-old Jude is devastated when she learns that her family will be moving to Prague for a year while her mother completes her art fellowship. Before they leave New York, she begins to act out with spells of anger, despair, and recklessness. Her arrival in Prague only magnifies these feelings as she realizes that Soviet Communist policies not only limit her freedoms, but have also wreaked misery and poverty on the people of Czechoslovakia. Angry and naive, Jude sneaks out of her house to see an anti-Soviet demonstration and is horrified by the violence she witnesses. Her uncontrolled actions begin to worry her family. Her break with reality is apparent when Jude flees to the countryside, wrecks a car, and winds up in a German hospital. Confronting her mental illness, Jude struggles to regain control of her life. The story starts off slowly as the teen leaves New York and the political and social details of Czechoslovakia are presented. While some less-savvy readers may be alienated by the historical context and setting, others will be drawn in as it becomes apparent that Jude is struggling with more than the usual teen angst. Other novels do a better job of illuminating the realities of teen mental illness; what makes this novel unique is the context in which it takes place. Lynn Rashid, Marriots Ridge High School, Marriotsville, MD Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Mental illness flares in a teenager transplanted from New York to Prague, and readers get the inside angle in this first-person historical novel from the author of The Shakeress (2002). Jude and her family arrive just as the unrest that leads to the fall of the Berlin Wall peaks, and the culture shock is enough to set off symptoms that had long been simmering in her; soon a combination of profound guilt and fear, a feeling of disassociation, and gremlin-haunted nightmares combine to drive her to erratic, impulsive, destructive acts. Ultimately, she winds up in a hospital, is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, and thanks to therapy sessions with an experienced doctor, along with medication and support from family and friends, takes steps toward winning back control of her life. Aside from a sour note sounded in one scene by otherwise-sympathetic supporting characters fulminating about Gypsies, Heuston constructs a solid cast and setting, against which her protagonist's breakdown proceeds in a convincing way. Jude's Mormon faith is a strong subsidiary element here, as well. Peters, John. From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.