This Raging Light

Seventeen-year-old Lucille is hypercompetent but, then again, she doesn’t have much choice. Her father has had a breakdown, her mother took off, and someone has to take care of her younger sister, Wren. In an assured debut, Laure gives Lucille a fierce stubbornness that keeps her going, even as it stops her from asking for help. The only person Lucille trusts is her best friend Eden and—because they’re a package deal—Eden’s twin brother, Digby. But Digby is complicated: even though Lucille has known him since they were seven, she has started to feel like she’ll die if he doesn’t touch her, and she’ll die if he does. The characters are well drawn, and Laure effectively depicts the adrenaline rush of love and sex. But with everything Lucille is wrestling to manage—finding money for food, paying taxes, keeping her car running, lying about her mother’s absence, and parsing her feelings for Digby—a potentially fatal accident brought into the mix feels like overkill. Ages 14–up Agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Literary Management. (Dec.)