Cruel Beautiful World

In this suspenseful novel by Leavitt (Pictures of You), impulsive 16-year-old Lucy runs away with her high school English teacher, William, "the coolest teacher on the planet." It's 1969, and Lucy is itching to get away from the working-class suburb of Boston where she lives with her high-achieving older sister, Charlotte, and their elderly guardian, Iris. William, cautioning her that they'll both be in danger if they're caught, takes her to live in an isolated house in rural Pennsylvania, from which he goes out to teach at a progressive elementary school, leaving her to do housework, feed the chickens, write in her journal, and secretly take a job at a farm stand run by grieving young widower Patrick. Leavitt alternates among the points of view of Lucy, Charlotte, Iris, and Patrick. The first half of the novel is a model of restrained and matter-of-fact horror: Lucy has no idea how much danger she is in, but the reader does. Chapters from the points of view of Charlotte and Iris, who face more ordinary challenges, provide realistic respite from the drama. The second half of the novel loses momentum. Leavitt's evident determination to keep the plot tidy and tie up loose ends detracts from the initial willingness to confront ambiguity that makes the first half so bold. (Oct.)