cover image Matthew Unstrung

Matthew Unstrung

Kate Seago. Dial Books, $16.99 (240pp) ISBN 978-0-8037-2230-9

This taut first novel takes a grim topic--the treatment of the mentally ill in 1910--and manages to transform it into a positive story of the bond between brothers and the slow but certain healing power of love. Anxious and eager to please his harsh clergyman father, dutiful Matthew toils away at a Nebraska Bible college, rebuffing his older brother Zack's invitation to come west to his Colorado ranch. But with failing grades and his father's disapproval looming, Matthew's terror and depression mount--until he catastrophically breaks down and is abandoned by his parents. Some readers may find the description of Matthew's stay at a mental hospital an unnerving interlude of strait jackets, chokings, gruel and dank basements. But Matthew's rescue and Zack's subsequent patient hand in his recovery under the clear Colorado skies is both riveting and moving. Seago is a welcome fresh voice with a dual talent for creating memorable characters and a sweeping plot that gathers readers into its momentum. Ages 12-up. (Apr.)