Mexican-American author Francisco X. Stork (Marcelo in the Real World) delivers another young adult novel steeped in the culture of the Southwest that explores the intertwined roles of familial love, duty and faith.
Sisters Kate and Mary have led studious and sheltered lives with their pastor father since their mother suffered a brain injury in a car accident, which left her in a permanent vegetative state. Although both struggle to pursue their passions, their world is constrained by their father. Then he suffers a heart attack and dies, leaving them to fend for themselves while continuing to care for their mother. The decisions that must be made to forge a life for themselves challenge their faith, their upbringing and their commitment to each other. Each sibling has a distinct personality and a passion that makes her question how correctly to fulfill their mother's belief: "No one can keep you from your dream unless you let them…. because you love them."
Stork excels at positing difficult questions without leading readers into a definitive answer. Irises intertwines issues of faith and love into a plot line that straddles the genres between mainstream young adult and Christian fiction. Could you make the difficult decisions at the heart of the novel, "For the truth of love may at times even require us to hurt the people we love"? Readers will find Kate and Mary's struggle for closure on their old life and the realization of a new one inspiring. --Jessica Bushore, former public librarian