Dare Truth or Promise - Hardcover

Boock, Paula

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395971179 ISBN 13: 9780395971178

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (Trade), 1999

Synopsis

Louie and Willa, two high school senior girls with little in common and different life plans, find that all their intentions mean little in the face of a love that will lead them to risk everything they thought was important.

About this title

Review

Willa and Louie could not be more different. Louie, who wants to be a lawyer, is an outstanding student and a prefect at her New Zealand high school. Willa lives in a pub and just wants to get through her exams so she can become a chef. But they are immediately and completely attracted to one another when they first meet as employees at a fast-food restaurant, and they soon fall in love. Louie's mother suspects the affair and orders her daughter to stop seeing Willa. Unwilling to defy her family, Louie seeks counsel from an understanding priest at her church and finally comes to accept her sexuality and her love for Willa. Boock's characters are lively and believable; even Louie's mother is multidimensional. Like M. E. Kerr's Deliver Us from Evie (1994), this is a heartening novel in which the lesbian lovers stay together despite family and societal objections.September 15, 1999 Booklist, ALAFrom the beginning, Willa and Louie's relationship is difficult-they have to sneak around and lie, and when Louie's mother catches them in bed together, the girls fight and split up. But their story has its moments of bliss, too, and-best of all-a happy ending. A limited omniscient point of view follows each girl in alternating chapters, so readers are equally acquainted with both characters and their situations. This is Louie's first love; she's amazed but not alarmed that she's fallen for a girl. Willa's been in love once before, but the relationship was a disaster. Willa's single-parent mom may not understand her daughter, but she loves and accepts her wholeheartedly; Louie, however, finds herself lying to her parents and wondering how to reconcile her religion and her love for Willa. As in Nancy Garden's Annie on My Mind, the descriptions of the girls' attraction and longings are authentically rendered. Lesbian readers will see themselves, and straight readers will see what gay teens already know-that the feelings of young love are the same for everyone.Horn Boo

About the Author

Award-winning author Paula Boock lives in Dunedin, New Zealand, where she works as a writer and publisher. She has written four books for young adults, including DARE TRUTH OR PROMISE, the winner of the New Zealand Children's Book of the Year Award. She has also published poetry and plays, and has written for television.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (Trade)
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0395971179
• ISBN 13: 9780395971178
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 176