cover image Paper Hearts

Paper Hearts

Debrah Williamson. New American Library, $14 (333pp) ISBN 978-0-451-22142-1

The protagonist of Williamson's (Singing With The Top Down) second novel, Chancy Deel, is a teenager on the lam from an addict mom and the group home where she landed due to her mother's abuse. Hitchhiking across the Midwest and leaving origami in place of the food she steals, Chancy is ""mad at herself, for hoping that things could ever be different."" She hits pay dirt in Wenonah, Okla., when she breaks into Max Boyle's garage just as he's about to off himself. Max is a grieving widower ""caught in depression's claws"" who refuses to be packed off to a nursing home by his social worker even after a nasty fall from the tub. Max quickly devises an alternate plan to suicide: he'll hire Chancy as his caretaker and tell the neighbors she's his god-daughter. Chancy jumps at the opportunity to live a ""real pretend life,"" even though it requires she hide her identity. Despite occasionally compelling supporting characters like the rebellious pre-teen and depressed dad across the street, the narrative wanders into treacly territory and gets very comfortable there. If Adult Protective Services is really so easily swayed, maybe teen vagrants everywhere have finally found their calling.