Yesterday's Child

by Sonia Levitin

"Time will help. Time will heal." That's what people promised. But for Laura, nothing is helping or healing. Her mother's death has left a void in her. It's made Laura realize she hardly knew her mother, and that can never be fixed. So Laura lies in her mother's bed, puts on her lipstick, reads her letters -- anything to answer Laura's questions and end her unbearable loneliness. Then Laura finds a letter that raises more questions than it answers. Written the day before her mother's death, it's addressed to someone named Megan and speakes vaguely of "forgiveness." Laura's never heard of Megan, but Megan and Laura's mother appear to have been childhood friends who hadn't spoken in twenty-five years. What would prompt her mother to write Megan now? And what did she mean by "forgiveness"? If Laura can unveil the mystery behind the letter, maybe she'll also unveil the mystery that was -- and still is -- her mother. But Laura's search for answers becomes an obsession. Laura can't stop, not until she knows the truth about everything -- even if it kills her.

Genres: Young Adult

336 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Sonia Levitin is a German-American novelist, artist, producer, Holocaust Survivor, and author of over forty novels and picture books for young adults and children, as well as several theatrical plays and published essays on various topics for adults. Her book Incident at Loring Groves won an Edgar Allan Poe Award.

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Laura has never felt very close to her mother and when she dies suddenly, Laura feels the pain of missed opportunities. But when she finds a letter her mother has written the day before she died, it begins a journey into her mother's secretive past. The woman Laura knew as Justine is really Jenny Rousseau and Jenny and her best friend Megan were involved in the scandal of the decade in the small town of Birch Bend, VA. Laura goes to see Megan to try to find out about her mother, but Megan's story doesn't match what Laura has found out on her own. What really happened? Does Laura want to know? And will Megan let her find out the truth?

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a romance at all. This book was horrific yet engrossing. I couldn't help but think of what it would be like to be in the heroine's shoes.