A Gift for a Gift

Late one night, 15-year-old Fran decides that enough is enough: there seems to be no possible escape from the prison made up of her clinically depressed mother, two rotten brothers, onerous household chores, school and poverty. Running away, Fran meets up with a dying woman who claims to be possessed by Michael, a magical man who will grant you any wish, as long as one promises to remain with him forever. The old woman wants to break free from Michael, and at the same time stop Fran from falling into the same trap. Like Margaret Mahy's The Haunting and The Changeover , Henry's novel uses the supernatural to examine the complex moral decisions young people must face, as well as to highlight the importance of family in those decisions. Unhappily, where Mahy offers a heady mix of humor and evocative language, Henry skimps. The theology behind Michael's existence is barely sketched out, and Fran's choice seems so hurried as to be unclear, even to sophisticated readers. Ages 12-up. (May)