If Winter Comes

This quietly powerful novel explores the relationships between two teenagers, Meredith and Barry, and their experiences during a weekend in which they are faced with nuclear annihilation. On Friday afternoon Meredith learns that nuclear missiles have been aimed at major U.S. cities by a tiny South American country, which threatens to launch the missiles by seven o'clock the next night. Meredith, whose parents have separated, and Barry, whose fear of failure has always made him contemplate suicide, first turn inwards and then to their parents before finally discovering the hidden strengths in each other. Hall has taken a subject that might be considered overdone and turned it into a tense, revealing profile of two young adults and their families. (12-up)