Secrets to Tell

Emily Garnette, 15, does not like her new stepfather or his son. Her mother's marriage seems to have caused her nightmares, which she has had since her father's death, to accelerate. She has begun to see a counselor, Thatcher, and as the story begins, she sets out with him and several of his other clients on a nine day "therapy trek" in the wilderness. Emily is an inexperienced camper, as are the other kids except for Brad, her hiking partner, who gives her surly looks for the first few days. Characterization and plot develop slowly, but there is no lack of adventure, intrigue, or mystery. This book is not about Emily's relationship with her family or her therapist. It is about her relationship with herself. She begins the camping trip hating her stepfather and brother and blaming them for her nightmares- but she knows they are really caused by her father's death, which she has never accepted. It's a subtle, imaginative story. It is not quick reading, but the characters are worth the trek and the plot is sustaining.