Novel Tease

I loved almost every sentence, and I really thought I wouldn't. As the author herself comments about teen coming-of-age stories, they're usually moralistic and everything works out in the end. Boooooring.

I was immediately captivated by Mor's reading list - she's read practically everything I had at her age (and since it's set in 1979/80, she's just a little younger than me), and I'll be going back through the book to find the references to the few I haven't read!

She almost lost me when Mor wrote in a library book -in pencil, at least - but she won me back with her love of Spider Robinson.

It's a wonderful story, full of poignant insights into the meaning of family, and the nature of magic. It's NOT good enough to beat China Miéville for a Hugo, but I can at least understand how the judges might have thought so!