Long Story Short

"[T]his is not Creative Writing. This is what really happened," begins Jonathan, the 14-year-old narrator of Parkinson's 13th novel, which ought to serve as an upfront warning about his essential unreliability. After his alcoholic mother hits his younger sister, Julie, with enough force to break her cheekbone, Jonathan tells a pack of lies to Julie's school, hoping to stave off the social workers who he's sure will whisk Julie into foster care. But when days pass with no improvement to Julie's appearance, Jonathan decides their only choice is to flee, hatching a halfhearted, underfinanced attempt to run away. After they are captured by the police, the story pivots completely%E2%80%94Jonathan even attempts, initially, to tell the second half of his tale in third person, but can't sustain the device. "I thought the third person might make it all seem more real somehow, but it's hard work writing about yourself as if you are not yourself," he admits. What results is a deeply affecting story about what can go wrong when adults fail children and the choices available to them are all bad. Ages 12%E2%80%93up. (June)