For Seller

By: Norm Goldman

Author: Lyda Phillips
ISBN: 0595361722

To effectively deal with difficult topics addressed to a teenage audience such as suicide, sibling grief, guilt, anger, rejection, abnormal behavior, denial, and bullying is no easy feat and it takes a certain amount of boldness and courage on the part of the author to pull it off. This is precisely what Lyda Phillips set out to accomplish with her recent novel, Peace I Ask of Thee Oh River, and she has acquitted herself admirably.

Phillips recounts the story of a typical American 18-year old Eleanor or as she prefers to be called, El, who, as a counselor in a girls’ summer camp in North Carolina meets up with a disturbed teenager, Tiffin Ramsey. Tiffin is the granddaughter of old Senator Joe Ramsey, who was a huge segregationist in the 1950s and she is also the daughter of Governor Cameron Ramsey, who has presidential aspirations.

For six weeks during the summer months, the Ramseys will be campaigning and they are not very keen on having Tiffin trail along with them. Consequently, they have decided to enroll Tiffin in Camp Nichia, where they feel she would benefit from the camp experience. They have given specific instructions that she is not to have any special treatment and that the less the campers know about her the better. They have also indicated to the supervisor of the camp that Tiffin has some "minor” behavioral problems.

This is a compelling and well written novel wherein the author proves to be adept at capturing a sense of place, as she depicts the "clickish” and sometimes cruel atmosphere of a girl’s camp and the mistreatment of some of the campers by their peers the "pressure-cooker passions, girls in love with each other, hating each other, torturing each other, making up legends, worshiping traditions, having crushes, and playing favorites.”

It is a story of painful emotions wherein an inexperienced 18-year old is forced to deal with a very disturbed young teenager that eventually proves to have a profound and lingering effect on her own psyche. Reflecting on her own behavior, El asks herself if she should she feel pity or protectiveness?

No doubt, this novel will raise some very interesting questions. How do you deal with family tragedy and whom do you turn to for advice and help, particularly when you are only eighteen and inexperienced?

Norm Goldman is the Editor of the Book Reviewing & Author Interviewing site http://www.bookpleasures.com Bookpleasures.com comprises over 30 international reviewers that come from all walks of life and that review all genre. Norm also offers an Express Review Service. You can find out more about this service by clicking on http://www.bookpleasures.com Norm is ranked among the top 1000 Amazon.com reviewers.

In addition, Norm is the editor of the travel site http://www.sketchandtravel.com Together with his artist wife Lily, the couple blend words with art focusing on romantic destinations.