Ferris Beach

Jill McCorkle. Fawcett Books, $6.99 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-449-21996-6

Kate Burns, who goes through adolescence painfully aware of the port-wine birthmark on her face, envies her best friend's flamboyant mother and her beautiful, racy cousin Angela without recognizing their vulnerabilities. ``McCorkle controls her story with dextrous skill . . . and illuminates character with ironic humor and empathic insight,'' said PW. (Nov.)

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