The Wrong Way Home

Fourteen-year-old Bent's mother suffers from Huntington's chorea, a genetic, debilitating and ultimately fatal illness. Bent and their housekeeper, Ani, have been caring for her ever since Bent's parents were divorced. Now her mother has deteriorated so much that Bent must put her in a nursing home and go to live with her father and his new family. After Bent's mother dies, the girl must cope with newly discovered, devastating truths about her parents and attempt to find a home she can truly call her own. Bent's disheartening search for inner peace seems endless; even when hope seems imminent, Fosburgh intimates that Bent may inherit her mother's disease. Bent's introspection is stirring, but the story, though powerfully written, is cumbersome and slow-moving. Ages 14-up. (Aug.)