Mardi was born in New York, but her parents sent her to Haiti to be raised in her grandmother s house while they worked. When a coup d état means 12-year-old Mardi and her sister must flee, they suddenly arrive in Brooklyn to live with parents they hardly know. Now it s two years later. Mardi has adapted to her new life, while savoring sweet memories of her home in Haiti. But she is also haunted by her secret: a soldier raped her when she fled. This ambitious first novel is an insightful story of how family love and support can heal and help us move from world to world. From the Hardcover edition. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Gr 9 Up-Born in New York to immigrant parents, Mardi Desravines returned to Haiti at the age of four to live with her grandmother. Eight years later, her Uncle Perrin's political activities brought violence to the family and forced them to flee. When the story opens Mardi's uncle, who has spent the past two years in a refugee camp in Cuba, is joining the family in their crowded two-bedroom Brooklyn apartment. In one sense, this is the familiar story of an immigrant teenager coping with crowding at home; parents' strict rules and high expectations; difficulties fitting in at school; and the challenge of combining two worlds particularized with rich description of Haitian food, culture, and language. But this is also the story of the aftermath of rape. Two years earlier, on the way to the airport to return to the U.S., Mardi was assaulted by soldiers. Outwardly she is a good student and a hard worker. Inwardly she is terrified. Her many injuries-some self-inflicted and some from bullies at school-are ascribed to her clumsiness. When her uncle is able to win her trust, she reveals her secret. Her family supports her emotionally and gets her both the medical testing and the counseling she needs. The sunlight of the protagonist's childhood memories is skillfully contrasted with the darkly sinister world of her adolescence, and Mardi herself is a convincingly complex and sympathetic character. Teen readers will rejoice in her resiliency and expected recovery.-Kathleen Isaacs, Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information