Anxious Hearts

Shaw's (The Girls) novel recounts two watered-down versions of its inspiration—Longfellow's epic love poem "Evangeline"—one a retelling, the other a modern complement. In a small Maine town, Eva and Gabe are high school juniors whose childhood friendship is rekindled by Gabe's brother's serious illness, which is diagnosed on the anniversary of Eva's mother's death. They lean on each other, but Gabe begins to act strangely after they spend an intimate night together in the woods, and he soon disappears. In a parallel narrative set in the 1700s, newly married Gabriel and Evangeline are separated when the New Colonists invade; Gabriel dedicates his life to reuniting with Evangeline. The mirrored yet divergent plot lines underline the similarities between ancient and contemporary romances, and suspense builds into a slight twist at the end. Romance-lovers will enjoy the flowery and rambling writing ("It was this vision of a happiness, a complete, eternal, soul-encompassing happiness, contained between the two, that gave him energy even as his fever drained him"), but overall neither of the twin stories has the emotional impact of the source material. Ages 12–up. (May)