Cruel Beautiful World

October 31, 2016
In this suspenseful novel by Leavitt (Pictures of You), impulsive 16-year-old Lucy runs away with her high school English teacher, William, "the coolest teacher on the planet." It's 1969, and Lucy is itching to get away from the working-class suburb of Boston where she lives with her high-achieving older sister, Charlotte, and their elderly guardian, Iris. William, cautioning her that they'll both be in danger if they're caught, takes her to live in an isolated house in rural Pennsylvania, from which he goes out to teach at a progressive elementary school, leaving her to do housework, feed the chickens, write in her journal, and secretly take a job at a farm stand run by grieving young widower Patrick. Leavitt alternates among the points of view of Lucy, Charlotte, Iris, and Patrick. The first half of the novel is a model of restrained and matter-of-fact horror: Lucy has no idea how much danger she is in, but the reader does. Chapters from the points of view of Charlotte and Iris, who face more ordinary challenges, provide realistic respite from the drama. The second half of the novel loses momentum. Leavitt's evident determination to keep the plot tidy and tie up loose ends detracts from the initial willingness to confront ambiguity that makes the first half so bold.

Narrator Xe Sands's soothing voice and evocative performance of this novel about relationships, family, and loneliness is an audiobook lover's dream. In 1970, 16-year-old Lucy runs away from Boston to set up house with her English teacher, William, in rural Pennsylvania. Sands changes up her volume, pacing, and expression to create a range of moods that mirror each character's inner world after the teen disappears. Noteworthy are her portrayals of Lucy's oppressive isolation and dawning realization that William is not the man of her dreams, her older sister's distress and determination to find the girl, and their adoptive mother's worry and guilt about her own failures. Sands slips easily among the different viewpoints, including those of the men, building the tension and keeping listeners fully invested in Lucy's story. C.B.L. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine