Determined to satisfy her curiosity about her unknown father, eighteen-year-old Angela May embarks on an emotional journey that shapes and forever alters the way she looks at herself, her unconventional mother, and her devoted friend Tycho.
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From Publishers Weekly
Beautiful Angela May lives a rather eccentric life with her mother in a small house at the top of Dry Creek Road. All her life she has heard that she was a child of love, but that her father was married and could not leave his other family. Now she's determined to meet him. Her best friend, Tycho Potter, doesn't think it's a good idea. In many ways he's a romantic and mystical person, but watching his sister's marriage fall apart has made him skeptical about Angela's faith in the power of love. Although things are predictably awful when Angela faces her father, out of this experience comes a new romance with Tycho and a better understanding of herself. This fairly straightforward story is overlaid with metaphysical musings that Angela and Tycho cull from old novels and Ionian philosophy. There are moments of lyrical intensity when the everyday is transformed by this spiritual element, but the two themes do not completely gel.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up Both Angela and Tycho had romantic notions: she about her unknown father, whom her mother had never married, and he for beautiful, sensual Angela. As Angela locates her father and plots a course to make him discover her, she learns that commonsense is a neat, symmetrical, misleading circle whereas truth is slightly elliptical and wobbly. As short, homely, brilliant Tycho contemplates the stars and planets to understand his family problems and hopeless love, Angela's confrontation with her father precipitates the emotional trauma of rejection. Through this turmoil, she recognizes her romantic feelings for Tycho, and the two have their first sexual encounter. Other stories of daughters searching for fathers deal with inner turmoil and search-for-self as here, but Mahy's is unique due to the distinct, unusual personalities; the New Zealand setting; the teenagers' fascination with the components of the universe and Mahy's use of analogies with fresh descriptions conveying sharp, vivid images. This story is brightly lit with perceptions and the universal inscrutability of finding one's place. The occult shivers in previous Mahy books don't occur here, but the atmosphere is electrically charged with the uncommon tone, eccentric characters and meshing of circumstances with feelings that should both appeal to and challenge YA readers and leave them pondering the center of their universe. Julie Cummins, Monroe County Library System, Rochester, N.Y.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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First Sentence
One hot summer night Angela woke up and found she could not go back to sleep again for, beyond her closed lids, the room was infected with disturbing silver. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
One hot summer night Angela woke up and found she could not go back to sleep again for, beyond her closed lids, the room was infected with disturbing silver. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Margaret Mahy weaves subtle magic into this tale of a teenage girl, her eccentric mother, and her not-so-hopelessly nerdy friend. I hope that the publisher will see fit to issue another printing of this book, because I consider it to be Mahy's best work thus far.
By A Customer
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I seem to get more out of this book each time I read it! Some books, when re-read at an older age, aren't as good as remembered. This isn't one of them! Angela's relationships with her mother and father are portrayed in all their complexity. However, it is her friendship with Tycho that is particularly perceptive and moving. It is good to see an authour deal with a relationship that is dificult to initiate and maintain - not just "happily ever after with the occasional spat" love. The issue of self-image as opposed to public image is also explored. All in all, a touching -but realistic- tale of changing relationships.
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
At the age of 20 I sometimes still feel young enough to read this kind of books. I have heard many people praise ms Mahy's talent, but this was my first touch with her - I must say I wasn't disappointed. This book contains some clever dialogue, it has a great attitude and it is well-written too. Of course, the story is quite escapistic, but I don't personally mind reading about beautiful girls falling in love with desperate losers. According to my own experience, such things don't happen very often in the real world, but as light entertainment this book functions very well. And if we keep in mind that it's meant for people aged about 14-16, I think I'll let the author get a bit educational. After all, this is an intelligent book. It speaks of human relationships with good taste and doesn't stay too middle-of-the road. The characters are all a little strange, which makes it all more interesting. I recommend.
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