Illyria

Starred review from April 26, 2010
In this enchanting fantasy with a romance far more taboo than the current spate of paranormal pairings, Madeline and Rogan are 14-year-old first cousins and deeply in love. Their great-grandmother was a famous actress and although her descendants have become increasingly staid, these two cousins have inherited her talent. One day, after making love for the first time, they discover, hidden in the attic of the family’s ancestral mansion, “a toy theater, made of folded paper and gilt cardboard and scraps of brocade and lace,” where, each time they visit it, the scenery and lighting have changed, among other curiosities (“Snow was falling. Not everywhere. Only behind the proscenium, on the tiny stage itself”). The cousins are cast in a high school production of Twelfth Night, one that shares the magic of the toy theater. Rogan, as Feste the clown, seems inspired but increasingly wild. It soon becomes clear that his love for Madeline is doomed to disappointment, if not tragedy. The edgy subject matter, explicit but not gratuitous, relegates this novel to mature readers, but it’s beautifully written, rich in theatrical detail and intensely realized characters. Ages 14–up.

Starred review from May 15, 2010
Grades 10-1 *Starred Review* Growing up in 1970s Yonkers, Maddy and Rogan were called the kissing cousins of the Tierney clan. In a secret attic space, they find a toy theater, complete with lighting and stage effects that appear like magic, but no actors or audience. As their discovery stirs within them the desire to create, Aunt Kate, mysterious and unnaturally beautiful, brings their abilities to a boil. Determined to restore the familys long-abandoned theatrical heritage, Kate pushes Maddy and Rogan to nurture their gifts in the schools production of Twelfth Night. However, Rogans wild nature is ever at odds with his haunting, melodious singing voice, and Maddys glamour, no doubt the gift of their great-grandmother, an ing'nue of the stage, shines dimly in the brilliance of Rogans fey charms. Winner of the World Fantasy Award, Hands slim novella is sublime and daring; she makes no mystery about the nature of the 15-year-old cousins relationship. Its as sweet, sexual, obsessive, and devastating as any other first love. YA readers are entrusted with a narrative of burgeoning and squandered talent, unapologetic incest, familial decline on par with that of Faulkners Compson family, and a hard-won ending thats, at best, tenuously hopeful. The subtlety and raw ache of the prose, and the realistic portrayal of artistic lives, triumphantly heralds Hands arrival into youth fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)