The Wizard's Tide

The personal impact of the Depression years is seen through the eyes of an 11-year-old boy in this simple yet evocative story from the author of the critically praised Godric and The Alphabet of Grace. In 1936, Teddy Schroeder is the elder of two children in a middle-class New Jersey home. With his sister, Bean, he enjoys the cosseting of grandparents, trips to Manhattan with his pretty mother, and a richly imagined world peopled with characters from the land of Oz. Teddy's awareness of tension in his parents' marriage mounts as he overhears their arguments about money, as his father, who seems unable to find work, has a proclivity for get-rich-quick schemes. We share Teddy's loss--feelings not expressed until we hear his adult voice in bittersweet recollection--when his father's suicide abruptly marks an end to the secure tenor of their lives. Plainly told, gently nuanced, the story has appeal for those who believe in the healing power of memory. (June)