Someone to Love - Softcover

Francess Lantz's beautifully rendered, compassionate portrait of a complex father-daughter relationship pays tribute to the ability of love to transcend boundaries of life and death. FRANCESS LANTZ is the author of SOMEONE TO LOVE and several other books for young people. A graduate of Dickinson College, she has worked as a children's librarian, a rock-and roll musician, and a book reviewer. She writes: "Although FADE FAR AWAY is a fictional story, I know how it feels to lose a father and to feel on the outside, powerless to help. My father, an architect, died when I was fifteen. I often wished rd had a chance to spend time alone with him during his illness. Instead, I've given my main character, Sienna, that chance. Francess Lantz lives with her husband and young son in Santa Barbara, California.

Sara, 15, is the only child of her 40-something parents, who own a successful steak-and-seafood joint on the California coast. A vegetarian who lobbies for all sorts of politically correct causes, Sara finds her parents impossibly self-serving and materialistic. When they announce that they are considering the open adoption of an infant, she doesn't know what to think. Iris, the baby's birth mother, drifts in and out of an abusive relationship, has a dead-end job and no prospects for the future. To Sara, however, Iris represents everything she yearns for- -independence, romance, adulthood. Identifying more and more with her idealized image of Iris, Sara drives an emotional wedge between herself and her parents. The book is written in first person in the form of letters from Sara to her sibling-to-be; the narrative usually captures the conflicted feelings, rebellious tone, and self-righteous attitudes of teenagers. But there are times when Sara is almost a caricature--her blindsided adolescent opinions won't ring true for readers, and the dose of reality that cuts her down to size has the feel of manipulated hysterics. (Fiction. 11- 13) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.