Seven year old Audrina Adare lives with her parents, her cousin Vera, and she also lives in the shadow of her older sister who was raped and murdered before she was born. This serves as a remined for young Audrina not to wander around alone in the woods. Her older sister was named Audrina and young Audrina constantly believes that she will never fill the shoes of the "first and best Audrina". One day Audrina breaks the rule about going into the woods, and she meets Arden Lowe, a young boy who will become her one playmate and companion. She also becomes friends with his mother Billie, a figure skater who lost her legs in an injury. As she grows older Audrina begins to learns secrets about her family. For example, the cruel, manipulative Vera is not her cousin at all but rather her half-sister. Though she marries Arden, Audrina cannot bring herself to be happy, because she feels that there is a secret that no one is telling her. When she finally discovers the truth, she must come to grips with the reality of what happened to the first Audrina, who she really is, and how much damage a parent can do out of desire to "save" his child. | ||
Plot & Themes Tone of book? - depressed Time/era of story - 1930's-1950's Kids growing up/acting up? Yes Internal struggle/realization? Yes Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Coping with loss of loved one(s) Yes Loss of... Parents/lack of parents problem? Main Character Gender - Female Profession/status: Ethnicity/Nationality Setting How much descriptions of surroundings? - 2 () United States Yes Misc setting Writing Style Sex in book? Yes What kind of sex: - vague references only - descript of kissing - touching of anatomy - actual description of hetero sex - rape/molest Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |