Breathe My Name

December 3, 2007
In a sad, haunting story of murder and its tragic aftermath, 18-year-old Frances Robinson seems to have a picture-perfect life in tiny Bethel, Ala., complete with a loving family, a fun-loving best friend and even a cute new boyfriend. But beneath this happy façade lies a dark and ugly past: 11 years ago, her mother gradually descended into insanity and one day suffocated Frances's three younger sisters; Frances escaped death only because a passerby came to her rescue. Now, safe and secure with her adopted family, Frances struggles to move on and forget her survivor's guilt. But all the terrible memories come crashing back when she learns that her mother has been released from prison and placed in a halfway home—and wants to see Frances. “I need to see you,” she writes from her undisclosed location. “We have to finish.” Deciding that she can't fully embrace her future without confronting her past, Frances and her boyfriend, Nix, secretly take off on a road trip to find her mother. The story captivates at times, but progresses awkwardly. The flashbacks to Frances's childhood disrupt the pacing at the beginning, but most are too brief for readers to glean significant insight from them. The momentum picks up considerably when the teens set off on their journey, but the curve-ball conclusion isn't remotely plausible. Ages 14-up.

March 1, 2008
Gr 10 Up-Eighteen-year-old Frances Robinson, born Francine Jelks, has been living in Alabama with her loving, adopted family for years, but there are still nights when she wakes up in a cold sweat, reminded that she once lived in a place called Fireless with her mother, Afton, and three younger sisters. One day a lawyer arrives, informing her that Afton has been released into a halfway house and giving her a letter from her mother; it ends, "We need to finish." The last time Frances saw Afton was when the woman tried to suffocate her with a pillow after murdering her siblings in the same fashion. With the help of her friend Ann Mirette, Frances plans a road trip with her boyfriend, "Nix," to find her birth mother. As scared as she is of seeing this frightening figure from the past, she wants to know if her mother was all bad. Can there be any good left in a person who was capable of something so evil? Nelson's novel is a thoughtful, moody, and entirely thrilling book. Flashbacks of Frances's youth in Fireless establish a creepy atmosphere showing Afton's descent into darkness. Nelson lightens the mood with a supporting cast of sympathetic and quirky characters, including recent New Orleans transplant Nix. "Breathe My Name" doesn't shy away from exploring the gray areas: forgiveness and family. With major twists and turns in the last 50 pages, this book will keep readers riveted until the very end."Jennifer Barnes, Homewood Library, IL"

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