Product Description
Another novel written by the author of the acclaimed "The Linnet Bird" and "The Moonlit Cage". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Another winner by Linda Holeman
Linda Holeman is one of my favorite authors and as usual she does not disappoint with this beautiful story.I won't go into the details of the story, suffice to say that you will enjoy it.I could not put it down.

A Land of Mystery and Mystique
After her father's tragic death, Sidonie O'Shea falls for a handsome and intriguing doctor from a strange African country. When he suddenly disappears at a critical point in Sidonie's life, she decides to follow him to his homeland in spite of warnings from well-meaning friends. After all it's the 1930s and young ladies were not supposed to go gallivanting around the globe on their own.What she finds in that land of mystery and mystique, leads her to contemplate a future in a lifestyle that she finds fascinating at every turn.

I loved both the premise and the settings of this book.Linda Holeman is a master at putting you into a strange and exotic situation and making you feel that you are truly there. Her characterizations in this book are also excellent. I highly recommend this as a suspenseful and exciting read.
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Customer Reviews (1)

Distressing Yet Gripping
I'm not sure why this historical fiction is "Untitled" in the U.S.A.In Canada, it's sold under the name "In a Far Country" although it seems a rather insipid name for such a powerful story.

As the daughter of poor medical missionaries in India, Pri Fincastle's life is far from glamorous or easy. There's much to do and she spends her time tending the gardens, learning the languages of the area and helping her parents look after the needs of the villagers who come to the mission for medical relief.There is little occasion for fun or frivolity in her austere upbringing.

As well, the atmosphere at the mission is not a happy one and there is much about her family's strange situation she can't understand. While she recognises her mother's slow descent into madness, it is not until the tragic death of both her parents that she learns part of the dark secret that the mission station holds. That knowledge leads her into even more distressing circumstances and towards the compelling and gripping conclusion.

I can't say this is an enjoyable read--it is often disheartening and depressing--and yet it held me spellbound. Ms. Holeman is an extremely competent writer whose wonderful descriptions bring the hot and sundrenched countryside of India to life. Nevertheless she often has a tendency to be too wordy. A good edit could do wonders for the story as, sometimes in a particularly exciting moment, you just wish she would get to the point.

Just the same, it certainly deserves the four stars I am giving it.


... Read more

Product Description
Daryâ’s simple life in mid-nineteenth-century Afghanistan is torn apart when a hateful curse by a jealous tribeswoman leaves her an outcast in her small Muslim village. She looks to her arranged marriage to the son of a nomadic tribal chief with hope that it will deliver her from this oppression; instead, Daryâ finds herself regularly beaten by her wrathful husband, and more isolated than she can bear. Seeing no choice other than to flee from her torment, Daryâ barely escapes through the foothills of the Hindu Kush.

Destitute and alone, Daryâ meets David Ingram, an enigmatic Englishman traveling in Afghanistan. Although he is a complete stranger, she joins him on his journey to Bombay—and embarks on the adventure of a lifetime. Ranging from the arid Afghan plains to the lush tropical villas of India, across mighty seas to Victorian London’s fetid streets, The Moonlit Cage is an intense and sensuous story of love, loss, and redemption. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Beautiful and Evocative
This wonderful historical novel takes place in Afghanistan in the early 1800s and allows us entry into the tragic and sad life of one young woman who is seriously abused by her own father and husband. The reader gets a clear picture and portrayal of what life had to offer women in the middle east at that time, and of the trilas they were made to suffer through.This is a tragic, yet inspiring novel; one of adventure & bravery, one that ends in love and hope.

This is also a story that shows how the human soul can endure the harshest of hardships and still prevail.The story is beautifully written and extremely evocative of the time and palce amongst the desert sand, the swaying camels, of pomegranates and palm trees, and of intense unrelenting heat. I loved this novel and can't wait to read other books by this talented author.

GREAT Read...couldn't upt it down!!
Loved this book....treat yourself and pick it up!!!You won't be able to put it down...

Decent Story but so depressing
The book is about a young Muslim female and her journey through life. She is female and so her life for many reason must be miserable and she must bare it. Dari (the main character) tries to heed to her paternal grandmother's words to use and remember her Power, but it certainly doesn't help her very much. Dari is strongwilled and sometimes stubborn but is always put into place especially by her father. Then her father one day makes the most crazy decision that causes more problems and much more pain for Dari. Dari finally marries into what would seem a decent life and perhaps a chance for her to regain new strength and happiness. Wrong. She is subjected to constant abuse mainly because of her belief in some curse on her.She ends up having to survive on her own for awhile until she is found by Sahib. Her journey begins again with more ups and some downs.

I am very interested in reading about different cultures. I am very fond of the middle eastern culture and so this book grabbed me. I read a few reviews and notice one reviewer stated the book was very sad. I didn't want to think this way, but read with caution. However, true to words, this is a very depressing book. Nothing good ever happens and when there is a little light of good something else depressing happens.

I was expecting some unequalness even a few expected issues with Dari' character, but every single page was drawn out with loads of deep problems and dark conclusions. Dari is suppose to be clever and smart but I found her naive and dependent. She believes everything told to her by everyone. She doesn't seem to believe in herself. When she should have questioned she did not. When she did, she requestioned her own self and got into trouble. A sign of an abused woman. Maybe. I forgive this but every page? I was not heartbroken, but sick of hearing Dari speak about her dark, dim, dismal, miserable, sad- life. I paged through hoping that there was light at the end of the tunnel- I am not sure I was satisfied with what I got.

The detail of the book is very good. Well written and I definitely was able to visualize pretty much everything that went on inside the pages. There were great historical accounts and I was delighted to journey from one tribe to the next and one country to the next. This is what kept my interest- the author hadwealth of knowledge, but was considerate enough in allowing Dari to explore her new chapters alone, and without explaining to much to the reader. Incredible. But any moments of happiness was fleeting.

I am thinking the high stars and comments about this books is a bit deceptive. I believe the book gives a false sense of exactly what some of us expected to read about women in the middle east. But through my research and own studies, past beyond these pages- not every woman's life is like this. Many Muslim women are educated, are married to good men, and are raising beautiful children. Many men love their wives and are not so quick to beat down and be disrespectful to them. If I were a muslim reading this book I would be a bit insulted because again nothing in this book apparently is too nice or good.

Books like these sell good coin because it draws into our fantasies for a good story. And may prove what we fear and justify our beliefs. Even I from time to time enjoy a good woman goes from nothing to something, but when you have a book where page after page are somber interludes. I had to put the book down and say- life is so much better than this.

So, read the book if you wish but be ready to travel for pages of endless rancor of major depression. You may even need to take an antidepressant afterwards.

3 stars for a well written book but poor tone.

(3.5 stars) An engrossing read that I never really felt connected too
It's not very often that you see a historical novel that has an Afghan main character. Most historical fiction (written in English) is set in England-the Tudor and Victorian Ages to be more exact. Some of it goes for the exotic Asian countries, some the European Continent, some in India (especially British occupied.) But the point is it's difficult to find a historical novel that isn't from a western viewpoint. Probably because the authors themselves are mostly western.

"The Moonlit Cage" is the story of Daryâ, a Muslin girl living in Afghanistan in the 19th century. Being the only child in her parent's marriage and a girl she was already regarded as being of little use. But as she grows up and begins to question (very slightly, but question still) the world around she is labeled by her society with one word: wicked.

But through her questioning Daryâ will lead a life not like the one her parents planned for her. She will travel far, all the way to the heart of the British Empire, sometimes gaining freedom, sometimes loosing it but always striving towards a place she feels at home.

I know the author of this book is quite well known for her other historical novel, "The Linnet Bird" which I have in my stack but haven't yet read-though I've heard a lot of praise for it. Praise that seems hard to justify if it is anything like this book.

"The Moonlit Cage" isn't bad really. In fact it's rather engrossing and I sped through its 500 or so pages in a day. But though the story kept me reading it never really connected with the characters. Maybe it's that my viewpoint is so different from the base view of the main character, maybe I just didn't like the writing style. Either way I still plan on reading Linda Holeman's other book.

Three and a half stars.

A ravenous read!
It's been a long time since I read a book like eating a bowl of popcorn.My Canadian friend, who gave this book to me, said it was a page-turner.Oh, indeed it is!No need to add details here -- just buy it and enjoy it! ... Read more

Product Description
In the claustrophobic, mannered world of British India, Linny Ingram seems the perfect society wife: pretty, gracious, subservient. But appearances can be deceptive. Linny Ingram was born Linny Gow, an orphan raised in the gray slums of Liverpool. Sold into prostitution by her stepfather when she was only eleven, Linny clung to the belief that she was meant for something more, something better, than life on the cold, dangerous streets.

A stroke of luck granted Linny the chance to re-create herself as a proper middle-class young lady, allowing her to join “the fishing fleet”—young women of good birth who sailed to India in search of husbands. India, with its exotic colors, sights, and smells, is a world away from the cold back alleys of Linny’s childhood. But even there, she is haunted by her past, and by the constant threat of discovery. Soon she finds that respectability and marriage bring a new kind of imprisonment. But having come so far, Linny is not about to surrender easily. In the lush tropics of India she finds not only the means of rebellion . . . she finds that she may be capable of feeling love and freedom after all. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

Moving
A very moving, intensely narrated story of a girl/young woman subjected to the relentless social rules of her times.The end almost justifies her final revenge, but just almost.

Depressing, Depraved, and Disappointing
If you are looking for a good book where characterization, plot, theme, and setting work in harmony to evoke a satisfying reading experience, then I cannot recommend The Linnet Bird.From its dramatic, explosive beginning when the 11 year old hapless protagonist is forced into prostitution by her step-dad to the contrived conclusion where there is some semblance of normalcy, this is a disappointing book.

Like Poetry
Beautifully written, one of my all-time favorite books.So different and descriptive.The author spares no punches, and introduces the reader to the harsh reality of the day.So interesting, I couldn't put it down.I gave it to a friend to read, but wish I would have kept it for myself.

Five stars
A close friend recommended The Linnet Bird, and I trust her judegment.This story is heart-breaking, moving along at a fast pace.The reader is "hooked" within the first chapter.What a treat to run across such a readable, fascinating plot.I will be on the lookout for other works by this author.

Don't mess with Linny
A very good book. I really enjoyed this character. Linny takes a lot of abuse and comes out on top. It is a very hard road but she always makes the most of every situation that comes her way. I like the fact that Linny gets even with a few of the abusers. It makes you want to jump right in the book and knock a few people around. The abusers learn the hard way don't mess with Linny you will pay for it in the end.This book has all the emotions one can feel. ... Read more

Product Description
Included in one of the2004 YALSA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults lists

Nominated for the White Pine Reading Program of the Durham District School Board

Gentle Emmaline loves nothing more than books and flowers and her little brother Tommy. Sadly, her idyllic country life in Victorian England comes to an abrupt end when her father dies of cholera. The family is forced to move to a mill town, where Emmaline’s mother is dreadfully injured in a factory accident. To ease her pain she takes laudanum and is soon addicted, craving the drug so badly that she sells Tommy into servitude as a chimney sweep in London. Emmaline knows that a sweep’s life is short and awful. Small boys as young as five are forced to climb naked into dark chimneys, their bare feet prodded by nail-studded sticks to keep them working. If Tommy is to survive, it is up to Emmaline to find him.

Linda Holeman brings a bygone period to life in a book of serious historical fiction for young adults.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

An Incredibly Crafted Tale
A sad, shockingly accurate depiction of Victorian England in 1830 during the industrial age when the elite and upper echelon held sway and power over the lives of the poor, and wretched downtrodden.

In a Charles Dicken's like fashion, rich in detail of the haves and have nots, Holeman takes us to the gritty, nasty streets of England cities where prostitution and mill work are a few of the only options for women, where children are sold to a life of climbing into and cleaning dirty chimneys, where food is miserly given to the hungry while the rich feast on sumptuous banquets, where the help are treated miserably and the rich have carte blanche to do with them as they will.

Emmaline, her father, mother and baby brother live a calm countryside existence. Rich in beauty of character, her father teaches her the poetry of Yeats and thus, Emmaline calls him The Moon King.

When Cholera takes the life of her father, her emotionally weak mother drinks herself into denial while at the age of ten Emmaline tries her best to fend for her brother and self.

Forced to flee to a mill town, Emmaline's mother obtains work in the factory where she is maimed by a machine. Out of work and a means of income, to quell the physical and emotional pain, Emmaline's mother becomes addicted to laudanum. In a drug induced state, she sells her small son Tommy to the men who use children as labor to clean the chimneys.

Against all odds, Emmaline, The Moon King's Daughter, searches for her brother in the hope to find and save him.

Highly recommended not only because of the well-researched material throughout, but also for the beautiful story of a sister who loves her brother with all her heart and will not cease until she finds him.

Another wonderful story for a tween-teen girl to read
This is the story of Emmaline: a teenage girl in Victorian England. The story starts with a prologue which takes place, chronologically, somewhere in the middle of the book. It's a hook, and it works.

Emmaline is a smart, talented, and genuinely compassionate girl. She, like many children of that age, has a major responsibility for her family.

The plot of the story is thus: Emmaline's father has died, leaving it to her to mother to support the family. The problem is that Emmaline's mother is not a strong person, and she's rather selfish. She's not mean, she's not evil. She's just selfish. And there are way too many parents out there like that. Within a few years, it's down to Emmaline to support her mother and younger, fever-impaired brother.

The story takes the reader from country to small city to london. The courageous Emmaline works and lives in some very strange (to us) circumstances, which are described subtly but to enough detail to make the reader understand just how horrid lives of the underclass were.

This is a wonderful story with a good, driving plot and strong characterizations. There were pieces I wanted expanded upon (the ending is too fast to me), but it is a great read.

Highly recommended.
(*)>

And I found that I was indeed searching
This really was a good book. And don't be discouraged by the fact that it says it's for ages 9-12. I'm 15 and enjoyed it thoroughly. For most of the book, the main character, Emmaline is about 16, so it's ok.
It is fairly depressing but uplifting as well! It tells the story of Emmaline, in England, as she battles to survive and take care of her deaf younger brother as her mother becomes addicted to laundanum and pawns everything they own to get money for it.
I won't give it all away, but that's the gist of it. when her mother sells little deaf Tommy to a chimney sweep for 5 years of service, Emmaline goes to London to get him back.

search of teh moon kings daughter
What I mostly liked about the book is the way that it has emmaline as a little girl and she is the one and only that's has been helping her mom and little brother sense her dad died because her mom doesn't really take good care of them because she is always on drugs or drunk.
Why I liked it? well I liked it because emmaline is a great example for all female that are always complaining about all the stuff they have to do and emmaline even if she complained she'd do it no matter what because she wanted to help her mom and her little brother Tommy.
I think that female's should read this book and use emmaline as an example like she does a lot of stuff that not even another girl her age would do because its too much to do.. and I think we can learn from the mistakes that cat (Emma line's mom) did and see the way that her life got ruined and that way we won't make the same mistake.

Fans of historical fiction--read this novel!
I came across this book on Amazon.It was one of their recommendations because of some of the other books I've read and/or purchased.They definitely know what I like!A great novel of Victorian London.1830's London is brought to life in a very Dickens-like novel.Just when you think it can't get any worse for Emmaline, it does.Just when you wonder if she can possibly get out of a bad situation, she does.She is a very likeable character and you want the best for her throughout the novel.All the characters are well defined.I did wonder what had happened to her mother, hooked to laudanum and living with an in-law who didn't like her.In the book Emmaline wonders if her aunt has treated her mother well and we wonder the same thing without ever being told.I really think this novel begs for a sequel, with Emmaline and her friends and family living out their lives in the--opps, don't want to give too much away!Fans of historical fiction will just devour this book, as I did. ... Read more

Product Description
This collection of ten stories explores the confusion, frustration and rewards of growing up.From Saying Good-Bye:The Island feels different without my dad. When we came here for our three weeks every summer, just the two of us, we'd stay in the little fishing shack right down by the water, curling up in sleeping bags on musty blown-up air mattresses...Every night, before we went to bed, Dad and I would lie on our backs in the long sweet grass beside the shack and watchthe sky, and he'd point out the constellations...This summer was my mom's idea. I didn't want to come, but she said it would make me feel less lonely for Dad...And you have a job to do there, she'd said witha stern look, as if I could ever forget what my dad had asked me to do. ... Read more

Product Description
The year is 1900 and orphaned 14-year-old Rosetta and her beloved younger sister Flora sail from England as “home girls.” They are sent to Canada so that they can have a chance at family life. Their dreams are shattered when Flora is adopted, but Rosetta is deemed to be too old. She is to become a farm worker, far from Flora’s new home.

Rosetta’s only dream is to find her sister. But slowly and against her will, she is drawn into the lives of the strange couple with whom she has been placed. It is soon clear to her that their home is full of fear and sorrow.

As her relationship develops with the farmer’s wife, Rosetta learns that true sisterhood can take many forms. The support the two young women offer one another makes each one stronger until they find a way to follow their dreams. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Well done
This is an absolutely wonderful book. It is historically acurate, interesting and very well written. Reading the trials and hardships Rosetta must go through to find her adopted sister that she loves so much makes younever want to put this book down. I loved this book, for more reasons thanone! It's twists in the plot give itdefinition and color. Go out and getthis book, it is definately worth it!

Hardships, love, and promises.
Rosetta and her younger sister, Flora, were sent to Canada from an English orphanage.They dreamed of a loving family, but when this does not happen Rosetta endures cruelty, love, hatred, and happiness to get back what isleft of her family.This book makes me appreciate my family, even when Iam mad at them.It also shows me that being an orphan does not let you dowhatever you want and that others will try to stop you from reaching yourgoal.

exellent
first of all i want to thank my friend Amy for lending me this book.I think we should all follow her good advice on reading this book.It was absolutely brilliant.I would reccemond this book to ages over 10.

Excellent
This book was the best I have read and I could not put it down. I would advise it for over 10.So GO OUT ANDGET IT!!!!!

A must read book
Linda Holeman has done it again with this young adult book.With the story of Rosetta she brings you back in time to an era when children were used and not enjoyed.You feel for Rosetta and urge her on in the hope of finding her sister who was unceremoniously delivered to a new family leaving Rosetta crying in the street.A book well written and savoured. ... Read more

Product Description
Learning to accept help can be the hardest lesson of all.

Mercy doesn’t have your average family, but it’s the only one she’s ever known. She, her mother Pearl, and her aunt Moo move from one falling-down rental house to another. Somehow they’ve always managed to get by, but lately things seem to be spinning out of control. Why is Pearl growing smaller, saying less and less as she retreats to the security of her bedroom? Why is her aunt growing larger and noisier as she reads fortunes in teacups and tarot cards and palms? And while Mercy tries to keep up at school and with her job, she lives in fear of the day Barry, Moo’s boyfriend, comes back to live with them all. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

"Birds" flies
"Mercy's Birds" is a rare book -- a book that is actually quite like real life, without being depressing or unrealistic. It's a vivid, poetic, bittersweet look at things like clinical depression, poverty, child abuse, and Linda Holeman does a wonderful job of bringing them to life.

Mercy lives with her mother Pearl and her Aunt Moo, both impoverished and eking out a meager living with the help of Moo's boyfriend Barry (known as B), who is off in Indonesia. One day, Mercy chops off her blonde hair and dyes it black. It's only one of the ways she is trying to harden herself against the ever-worsening conditions of her life: Her mother's sinking depression, her aunt's blossoming alcoholism, and B's sexual advances (and threats if she tells on him).

At her new school, Mercy has few friends, even though a girl called Andrea is trying to befriend her. The only people she really communicates with is her Italian-American boss, Vince, and the kindly Mamma Gio. But Mercy's already-difficult life takes a sharp downward turn when Pearl overdoses on pills, and B announces that he's returning.

Things are bad when "Mercy's Birds" starts, and they only improve near the end. Even then, it's not improvements that defy belief. Rather, it's about a fractured, battered family growing back together, and gaining a strong little circle of friends. There's no perky "happily ever after," but things are winding up to become happier and brighter.

Holeman's writing is very vivid, and full of symbolism (such as the bright mask that Mercy creates, or her stiff black hair). She doesn't milk tragedy or sadness for sympathy, and the background she makes for each character is very realistic. And even though the world Mercy lives in is in some ways a very dark place, Holeman reminds us that dreams can still come true.

Mercy is not your typical troubled teen. As we see, her angst and anger are a way of coping with the very real problems of her life, especially problems she can't deal with alone. Her mom is virtually a nonentity, and Aunt Moo is at least trying to make an impression, even if she doesn't quite know how. Good supporting characters are the twinkly-eyed Italian widow Mama Gio and her son Vince.

"Mercy's Birds" is a unique book, and not one just for young adults. Beautiful, bittersweet, and will linger in your mind after you finish it. Highly recommended.

Touched my life.......
"Nothing - not bird claws, and not fingers, especially not B's fingers - would
ever tangle themselves in my hair again, scaring me, holding me prisoner." Mercy
Donnelly has just started a new high school at the end of October, and her fellow grade
10 classmates are reluctant to accept her dark wardrobe and short, choppy jet-black hair.
Mercy rarely lets anyone get close to her, and isolates herself from the world. To make
matters worse, her life at home is no better. Her mother, Pearl, is slowly falling into a
deep depression, and most of her time is spent lying awake on her bed, staring at her
plain walls and closed curtains that haven't been opened in months. Mercy's aunt,
Maureen (whom Mercy has always called "Moo"), has just chosen a new boyfriend to
bring into their home. His real name hasn't yet been announced, for Mercy and Pearl
always refer to him as "B". B is away for work at the moment, and while he is away,
Mercy is trying to sum up the courage to tell Moo or Pearl about what he's been saying to
her, and doing to her when they're alone. However, it's hard for her to do this because
Pearl doesn't have a job and the money that Moo and Mercy make doesn't add up to
enough to support them, so B's monthly checks are what they've been living on.
However, Mercy knows it's in her best interest to stand up for herself and what she
knows is the right thing to do.
Mercy's life finally takes a small turn for the better when she makes a new friend
at school, Andrea. Andrea is an outgoing, yet not overly interesting person, but is a great
help for Mercy to have around. Also, Mercy's routine of working at the local flower shop
is relaxing and therapeutic for her, and helps to take her stress off. She also finds hope
through the storeowner, Vince, and his mother whom everyone calls "Mamma Gio." Yet
suddenly, everyone is abruptly shaken and woken up with a jolt when Pearl overdoses on
a bottle of painkillers and winds up in a psychiatric ward of a hospital nearby. Mercy and
Moo are forced to deal with the feelings and situations that arise because of this startling
news.
This is one of the novels that I can relate to the closest out of the ones I've read
before. Mercy and I have a lot in common, and I feel like I'm reading a novel about
myself in some ways. I wouldn't recommend this novel to everyone, because I think that
it only applies to certain personality types.I also wouldn't recommend it to everyone
because I feel like I'd be sharing things with people that I just want to be my own. I know
that that sounds extremely selfish, but there are certain exceptions to novels that are this
touching. Yet at the same time, I want to recommend this novel to everyone, hoping that
they can too get as much out of it as I did. However, this book has been really inspiring
and helpful to me, and will hopefully help others the same way that it has helped me.

Touched my life.......
"Nothing - not bird claws, and not fingers, especially not B's fingers - would
ever tangle themselves in my hair again, scaring me, holding me prisoner." Mercy
Donnelly has just started a new high school at the end of October, and her fellow grade
10 classmates are reluctant to accept her dark wardrobe and short, choppy jet-black hair.
Mercy rarely lets anyone get close to her, and isolates herself from the world. To make
matters worse, her life at home is no better. Her mother, Pearl, is slowly falling into a
deep depression, and most of her time is spent lying awake on her bed, staring at her
plain walls and closed curtains that haven't been opened in months. Mercy's aunt,
Maureen (whom Mercy has always called "Moo"), has just chosen a new boyfriend to
bring into their home. His real name hasn't yet been announced, for Mercy and Pearl
always refer to him as "B". B is away for work at the moment, and while he is away,
Mercy is trying to sum up the courage to tell Moo or Pearl about what he's been saying to
her, and doing to her when they're alone. However, it's hard for her to do this because
Pearl doesn't have a job and the money that Moo and Mercy make doesn't add up to
enough to support them, so B's monthly checks are what they've been living on.
However, Mercy knows it's in her best interest to stand up for herself and what she
knows is the right thing to do.
Mercy's life finally takes a small turn for the better when she makes a new friend
at school, Andrea. Andrea is an outgoing, yet not overly interesting person, but is a great
help for Mercy to have around. Also, Mercy's routine of working at the local flower shop
is relaxing and therapeutic for her, and helps to take her stress off. She also finds hope
through the storeowner, Vince, and his mother whom everyone calls "Mamma Gio." Yet
suddenly, everyone is abruptly shaken and woken up with a jolt when Pearl overdoses on
a bottle of painkillers and winds up in a psychiatric ward of a hospital nearby. Mercy and
Moo are forced to deal with the feelings and situations that arise because of this startling
news.
This is one of the novels that I can relate to the closest out of the ones I've read
before. Mercy and I have a lot in common, and I feel like I'm reading a novel about
myself in some ways. I wouldn't recommend this novel to everyone, because I think that
it only applies to certain personality types.I also wouldn't recommend it to everyone
because I feel like I'd be sharing things with people that I just want to be my own. I know
that that sounds extremely selfish, but there are certain exceptions to novels that are this
touching. Yet at the same time, I want to recommend this novel to everyone, hoping that
they can too get as much out of it as I did. However, this book has been really inspiring
and helpful to me, and will hopefully help others the same way that it has helped me.

Mercy's Birds rings with truth.
Mercy's Birds, by Linda Holeman, is an excellent book. Readers of Judy Blume and other so called "realistic Young Adult fiction" will appreciate Holeman's realistic portrayl of Mercy, a bright young lady withsome very serious problems. 15-yr-old Mercy has chosen to wear nothing butblack, in response to her messed-up home life and other factors.Her teenangst is real; Mercy is facing some very serious problems.There is nosugar coating here - everyone in Mercy's world is messed up, and there areno pat answers. What makes this book unique and wonderful is the insightfulway that Mercy views her world and analyzes her problems. Holeman managesto give us a book in which the characters face serious and sad problems,yet with an uplifting ending.The moral of this story is that being trueto yourself is the most important thing one can do, no matter what scarythings one is facing. I highly reccomend this book for young adults, butalso for those who work with young adults, troubled or otherwise.Thisbook will make you remember what it's like to be 15. ... Read more

Product Description

Each one of this collection’s poignant, finely crafted stories, which in character and setting are often reminiscent of the works of Alice Munro, introduces ordinary people confronting their personal, but not uncommon demons.

Product Description
Toxic Love is a distinctive collection of short stories by Linda Holeman, each exploring love in all its touching, tragic, and often funny permutations.

In the title story “Toxic Love”, Carla is an intellectual with a stutter, a dweeb. She’s also an incurable romantic. Feeling isolated in her country town, she tries to dream up romances for her English teacher, Miss Kleinfeld, and a handsome colleague. Carla is shocked from her giggly wishful daydreams when she realizes that Miss Kleinfeld’s love was never available. In the hilarious “Something Fishy” the narrator is looking for some excitement in her ho-hum suburban life, and almost without meaning to, she tells a whopperof a lie. The excitement that follows is more than she bargained for.

First published in 1995 as Saying Good-bye, this brilliant collection of work by Linda Holeman navigates through the landscape of adolescence with sympathy and heart. ... Read more

Product Description
Poppy is on an odyssey. Her adoptive mother has taken off to find herself, so Poppy decides to live with her adoptive father, his new wife, Calypso, and their toddler, Sandeep, in a ramshackle rasp-berry-colored house.At first Poppy is distressed by the disordered household, which is unlike anything she has ever known, but soon it becomes a jumping-off point for her search for her birth mother.

Poppy discovers a great many things in the course of her search. She finds a kindred spirit in a strange, sickly woman named Becca, and an unexpected connection with the hippy, Calypso. But most of all, she finds a part of herself she didn’t even know was missing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A must read!
This was such a great book! I finished it in 3 days, and I'm usually a pretty slow reader. I couldn't put it down! It is about a sixteen year-old girl named Poppy who lives with her adoptive mother in Winnipeg. When her mother takes off to Greece with her boyfriend, Poppy has to stay with her mother's friend for the summer. Poppy doesn't think much of that idea, so she gets on a plane to Winnipeg where her father lives. There she stays with her father, stepmother and their son while she searches for her birth mother. I don't want to give away any more of this story, you'll have to read it for yourself! I strongly recommend this book, especially to girls aged 12-16.

Raspberry House Blues
Wow! I must say this was a good book. I live in Winnipeg so I thought it was neat how the book took place in Winnipeg. However, Winnipeg tends to be a relativly boring place so I thought it would be boring to too but I was wrong. This was a good book and my teacher and my best friend also have read it and recomend it. So please pick us this book, it's really down-to-earth and it's so realistic. The characters are so easy to picture and the book is great. So read on!

Surprisingly great!
When I bought this book I had my doubts.I thought it would be just a cliche "girl finds love unexpected places while trying to find someone." I also was not very excited to find that Winnipeg is the setting of this novel. Instead, it was a funny and extremely realistic book.As I was reading, I could easily see myself as Poppy, the main character.Everything was so real I could not believe it.Also, the author writes with great descriptions and uses Winnipeg to her advantage.This is a book that every teenaged girl should read.You will fall in love with almost all the characters, including Poppy's loving, but clued-out dad, her hippie step mom, and the eccentric Becca.Go read this book now!

Raspberry House Blues
The search for home is the subject of this tenderly written novel about a young girl's journey to locate her birth mother. Poppy is seventeen, tall, red-haired and adopted.Since the age of five, she has lived with her adoptive mother Denise in Winnipeg. Recently Denise has take up with Marcus, a poet from Greece.Her father Eric has started a new family in Vancouver.Poppy decides that the only person who can really care about her must be her birth mother.As the beginning of a summer holiday, she travels to Vancouver to undertake a journey that will introduce her to many new people and situations.By the end of summer, Poppy discovers that she has learned much on this spiritual odyssey, mostly about herself and the value of a family bonds.

Linda Holeman writes in a style that is easy to read and contemporary in setting.In this book, she has created a cast of characters that are so real, they could be personal family members.Poppy is a whole person, capable of being sweet and sensitive, but acting at times in ways that are also selfish and stubbornly single minded.

A good read! ... Read more

Product Description
Word count: 2596. ... Read more