Martha Jocelyn (How It Happened in Peach Hill) threads together the perspectives of eight 16-year-olds in an engrossing exploration of truth and lying--as acts of omission and commission. Her novel takes place during the Vietnam War at a British boarding school.
The narrative moves among the points of view of--among others--Jenny, an American whose brother is dodging the draft by attending college in Britain; Brenda, a day student on scholarship who at times offers greater insight than her wealthier classmates; Nico, with a perverse wish to live out his infamous author mother's sexual escapades; Penelope, the perceptive yet often misguided class "slag"; and Kirsten, whose brother discovers he's gay when he meets up with Robbie, a townie who "knew before [Luke] did that he was queer." Robbie is viciously attacked, and Luke works at keeping his own sexuality secret. Jenny's fabrication of a sexual relationship with her brother's African-American best friend, Matt, who's serving in Vietnam, plumbs the complicated feelings around her brother's avoidance of the draft, her unrequited love for Matt and her wish to seem as exotic as her British peers. She poses the book's central question: "Were we all hiding all the time, camouflaged by what other people expected to see?"
Jocelyn creates a complex mosaic of varied life experiences, deftly moving from first-person to third-person narratives and establishing distinct characters, against the backdrop of a controversial war at a time when everyone grew up quickly. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness