Containing as much romance, scandal and drama as a soap opera, Bondoux's (The Killer's Tears
) novel examines how two Parisian sisters, as different as night and day, must reinvent their notion of family after their parents are killed in an automobile accident. Mado, the 15-year-old narrator of the story, emerges as a more sympathetic and convincing character than her recently appointed guardian, sister Patty, a 20-year-old party girl, whose lack of sound judgment and immature behavior may be as frustrating to readers as it is to Mado. The two girls find themselves in a precarious situation when Patty becomes pregnant and waits too long to have an abortion. Fearing the reaction of social workers, who have warned her that "at the slightest digression, [her] guardianship may be reconsidered," Patty attempts to conceal her condition. Near the end of her pregnancy term, she whisks Mado away to their inherited country home, where both girls fall hard and fast for a pair of fellow vacationers from the Netherlands. While the author portrays the girls' reactions to their obstacles credibly, the book's climax—which involves Mado's solo delivery of Patty's child—is as implausible as the sudden appearance of the baby's estranged father, who paves the way for a too-tidy resolution. Ages 14-up. (Feb.)
