Back Creek

March 1, 2008
One morning in May 1975, Grace Barnett witnesses an unusual boating death that will serve as the catalyst for significant changes in both the 17-year-olds life andthe lives of her family members. The Barnetts have lived on Back Creek for generations, Grace tells us, and, indeed, Goetschs loving evocation of her Tidewater, Virginia, setting in the mid-1970s is the strongest aspect of her first novel. Although published for young adults, the books slow pacing, frequent flashbacks, andpainstakingly careful parsing of the dynamics of family relationships may have more appeal to adults than teens. Nevertheless, Grace is a sympathetic narrator, whose account of her discoveries about herself, her family, and the young Vietnam veteran with whom she falls in love will holdthe attention of readers who prefer their fiction with a more measured pace to its operatically dramatic conclusion.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)