Innocent

July 15, 2015
A young woman loses everything and must plumb her past before she can build a new life for herself. When a fire destroys the Ontario orphanage Betty has called home for most of her life, she is sent to Kingston to work for the city's most wealthy and influential family. Shortly after taking up her new position, Betty discovers her mother was also a maid for the Remington household prior to her death at the hands of Betty's father 14 years before. After a visit to her mother's grave, a curious Betty faces her imprisoned father, who insists he's innocent. Subsequently, Betty enlists her cop boyfriend, David, to help her dig up the facts about what really happened to her mother. Although Betty is slow to pick up the clues, readers will realize the truth before she does (see the book's title). The 1964 setting appears arbitrary, established by the book's relationship to the others in the Secrets series rather than narrative needs; period details are few, and without consistent time-appropriate cultural references, the resulting story feels anachronistic to today's readers. The plot moves quickly, but the conclusion is tidy and cliched. The big reveal-who killed Betty's mother and why-unfolds more like the unveiling of a vaudeville villain (sans twirling mustache) than a dramatic novel. Lukewarm and unremarkable. (Historical fiction. 12-16)

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October 1, 2015

Gr 7 Up-In 1964, a girls' orphanage burns to the ground and its seven oldest residents, each armed with a cryptic clue about her past, are sent out into the world to make their way. Each entry in the "Secrets" series of seven linked YA novels details a different girl's rocky start. In Walters's Innocent, Lizzy is offered a job in her hometown, where she discovers that her father, having murdered her mother, is still doing time in the local prison. Drawn to him despite warnings from her seemingly kind employer, the protagonist discovers a cover-up involving nearly the entire town. Although it gets off to a slow start, this volume delivers some tense moments as Lizzy makes her way through the local web of lies. Armstrong's The Unquiet Past features a creepy supernatural element. Tess's search for the meaning of her waking visions leads her to an abandoned mental hospital, a series of illegal experiments, and a boy who's looking for answers of his own. These installments target reluctant readers with their short sentences, plot-driven events, and light character development. VERDICT Purchase where historical fiction is popular.-Elizabeth Friend, Wester Middle School, TX

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