From Publishers Weekly
Although Lewin, award-winning writer of detective fiction, claims that his first book for young readers is a "coming of age story," his sprawling thriller draws more on the conventions of the adult historical saga than those of the YA novel. He starts off with a bang: in 1895 New York, 20-year-old Jackie Cross promises her best friend, Nance, who is on her deathbed, that she'll get back the locket stolen from her by her attacker, the knife-throwing showman Teddy Zeph. The book's second chapter shifts both time and place with the introduction of Claudette LaCroix, separated from her brothers and sold at auction after the death of their parents in a fire in 1826 Indiana. Alternating chapters unfold Jackie's quest to track down the murdering Zeph and three generations of her back story (readers discover about half way through the connection between Claudette and Jackie); 19th-century baseball, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, orphan trains, London music halls, Jack the Ripper and cross-dressing all play a part. Lewin's characters aren't drawn with much depth, but his facility with dialogue and dialect makes them lively and appealing; his fast-paced plotting compensates for the book's daunting length. While much of Claudette's story seems out of place in a children's book (her sexual relationships, her inability to love her only son), fans of Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart will find a kindred spirit in Jackie. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Grade 8 Up-A meaty novel of suspense. In dying breath, Jackie's best friend Nance, a rider in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, identifies her murderer, a vaudeville knife thrower who tried to rape her, and Jackie promises to seek revenge. The trail leads to England, so she books passage to Liverpool. However, an unscrupulous bounty hunter is looking for her as a murder suspect. Aided by the first of many diverse characters, the girl-disguised-as-a-boy disembarks the ship "disguised" as a young woman. After a lengthy series of adventures, she fulfills her promise to Na
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
This sprawling but intriguing novel recounts the stories of Jackie and Claudette, who live part of their lives disguised as men. Jackie's is the more interesting story. The daughter of one of the first professional baseball players, she elects to live as a man so that she can play ball. When her friend is murdered, she follows the killer to England to bring him to justice. The year is 1895. Flashing back to 1826, Lewin then introduces 10-year-old Claudette, whose parents have died in a fire. From this point, the story moves back and forth in time following--in alternating chapters--the girls' strangely intertwined lives. Although there's an affectionate portrait of baseball's early days, the novel is too long, dark in tone, and mature in its treatment of sex. Most troubling, though, is Claudette's startling, difficult-to-understand character change. Despite such problems, however, the book's haunting atmosphere, stylish use of nineteenth-century speech, and offbeat plot will appeal to many older teens as well as a number of adults. Michael Cart
From Kirkus Reviews
Masquerading as a man, a young woman sets out to find her friend's killer in New York and London at the turn of the century; disguise proves to be simultaneously liberating and imprisoning in Lewin's big-canvas historical novel. No one is who she or he seems to be, not the gender-bending heroine Jackie who spends most of her life as Jack so she can play baseball; not her best friend, Nance, a black performer who ``passes'' as white, and who dies of a stab wound in the opening pages. Cleverly structured and meticulously detailed so that every piece of information neatly clicks into the jigsaw-puzzle ending, the novel runs on two tracks. One chronicles Jackie's past history starting with her grandmother (whose incredible life both mirrors and influences her granddaughter's); the other details her current adventures as the avenger of her best friend, along with a surprise unveiling of her father's murderer. After a vivid trip through 19th-century America, the novel concludes in and around the music halls of London, where Jackie's past and present converge. The derring-do climax fails to ignite, for this is a book in which the journey surpasses the destination, but overall Lewin produces a grand adventure that readers won't soon forget. (Fiction. 12-14) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Book Description
"Show some respect, young man...Just what was this young woman to you?" Jackie looked into the nurse's pinkface. "Nance was the best friend I ever had," she said. "The only friend I ever had."
Jackie is Jack Cross to everyone except Nance, a Wild West show trick shooter in turn-of-the-century New York who has her own secrets to hide. A slick-fielding second baseman with a good bat, Jackie must never drop her disguise if she is to continue to play professional baseball. But when Nance is murdered by a knife-thrower who does know Jackie's secret, the young ballplayer takes off on a transatlantic chase that changes her life.
Set on two continents, in three different time-periods, with a fascinating cast of characters including Buffalo Bill Cody, Jack the Ripper, and a musical star named Ruby the Red who has still another hidden life, Cutting Loose is a multi-layered page-turner filled with insights and surprises.
Jackie is Jack Cross to everyone except Nance, a Wild West show trick shooter in turn-of-the-century New York who has her own secrets to hide. A slick-fielding second baseman with a good bat, Jackie must never drop her disguise if she is to continue to play professional baseball. But when Nance is murdered by a knife-thrower who does know Jackie's secret, the young ballplayer takes off on a transatlantic chase that changes her life.
Set on two continents, in three different time-periods, with a fascinating cast of characters including Buffalo Bill Cody, Jack the Ripper, and a musical star named Ruby the Red who has still another hidden life, Cutting Loose is a multi-layered page-turner filled with insights and surprises.
About the Author
Michael Z. Lewin is the award-winning author of ten adult detective novels. He always seeks new challenges, and when he realized that Jackie's story was about a young woman coming of age, he set out to write his first book specifically for younger readers. Born in the United States, he now resides in England.
