Chronicling civil war in her native Sri Lanka, Munaweera's debut, Island of a Thousand Mirrors, was a Commonwealth Book Prize winner and got strong reviews in America. Here, a girl from Sri Lanka's beautiful hill country escapes terror by immigrating with her mother to America yet can't shake off the past and is eventually driven to commit a terrible crime.

Ganga's childhood is turned upside down by the unexpected death of her father. She and her mother must take advantage of her aunt's hospitality in America—a huge lifestyle change from her father's ancestral home in Sri Lanka. Ganga's relationship with her mother has always been tumultuous, and it doesn't improve when the girl becomes a typical 1980s American teenager. Once in college, Ganga finally finds love, acceptance, and a relationship, but the young couple's intimacy is tested by an unexpected pregnancy. Ganga isn't sure she can be a good mother—she has too many secrets and is terrified that the cycle of abuse will be repeated with her own daughter. The lush and sultry Sri Lankan setting provides a fitting atmosphere for the beginning of this dark and tense novel. From the outset, readers know that Ganga has done something horrible to her child, and the sense of foreboding grows throughout the narrative. While the latter part of the novel is written from Ganga's point of view as a new wife and mother, teens will still want to continue reading to find out what happened to the young child and what caused the violence. VERDICT Subtle prose, sexual abuse, estranged relationships, post-traumatic stress disorder, cutting, filicide—give to teens who appreciate Ellen Hopkins's Identical or the classic Medea.—Sarah Hill, Lake Land College, Mattoon, IL