The Hippie House

by Katherine Holubitsky

The "summer of love" is a time of idealistic freedom and experimentation for Emma, her cousin Megan, and the young people of Pike Creek. While her brother Eric's band practices in what Uncle Pat has dubbed the Hippie House, the girls suntan on their small lake and hitchhike into town to hang around the Drop-In Center. They find the growing crowd of long-haired musicians and hangers-on that begin to show up at the farm both enticing and a bit scary. The beginning of the school year brings excitement and change for Emma. But when eighteen-year-old Katie Russell disappears, her teenage sense of immortality is suddenly shattered. A month later, when Eric discovers Katie's body in the Hippie House, the entire community is thrown into turmoil. There are plenty of suspects in the brutal murder, but for months the case remains unsolved. And while others speculate, Eric agonizes that the killer may have been one of the many drifters who passed through the Hippie House during the summer.

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Young Adult, Historical Fiction

244 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Katherine Holubitsky's first novel, Alone at Ninety Foot, (Orca), won the CLA Book of the Year for Young Adults and the IODE Violet Downey Book Award. She has also written Last Summer in Agatha, The Hippie House and The Mountain that Walked, all published by Orca. Katherine lives in Edmonton, Alberta.

For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/katherin...

Reviews

[Ingrida Lisauskiene]

Detektyvas, kurio veiksmas vyksta 7-ajame dešimtmetyje. Autorė įtikinimai parodo, kaip žmogžudystė keičia tos aplinkos žmonių, net nesusijusių tiesiogiai, gyvenimą - baimė, įtarinėjimai, netikrumas, kasdieninio gyvenimo apribojimai keičia ir jaunų, ir vyresnių žmonių gyvenimą.

[Gina]

This Young Adult book is set in rural Ontario in 1970-1971. The author captures the time and place well, which provides a backdrop for the disappearance of a local teenager. Told through the eyes of Emma, her family becomes involved in the death if only because the victim is found on their farm. I was particularly taken by the relationship between Emma and her older brother, Eric. Their conversations were true to life and helped give the story shape. It wasn't a compelling read but I was interested enough to finish it.

[Jana]

Was actually very good. The first quarter was pretty dry but after that I couldn't put it down. Finished the last half this morning. Much better than I thought it would be. Found it in the discard pile at the library.

[Jc]

On the shortlist for the 2005 YA Book Award for the CLA.