The Refuge

by Monica Hughes

Twelve-year-old Barb Coutts is watching her life fall apart; her father has walked out, leaving Barb and her mother to cope on their own. Barb and her mother move to an apartment in a poorer neighborhood. The new home is all the way across town, and Barb friends are left behind. Life looks pretty bleak until one day Barb stumbles upon a hidden paradise--her refuge. She also finds a friend to share it with. But on the day Barb needs her refuge the most, she discovers that it does not belong to her alone.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Canada

140 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Monica Hughes was a very popular writer for young people, and has won numerous prizes. Her books have been published in the United States, Poland, Spain, Japan, France, Scandinavia, England, and Germany. She has twice received the Canada Council Prize for Children's Literature, and was runner-up for the Guardian Award.

She is the author of Keeper of the Isis Light, an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, which also received a Certificate of Honor from the International Board on Books for Young People; Hunter in the Dark, also an ALA Best Book for Young Adults; and Sandwriter, among many other titles.

Reviews

[Ying · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book when I was 11. Our teacher read it to us out loud in class and it is one of my favourite memories of childhood.

A simple story about a girl and boy that try to escape their troubles and worries in a 'refuge' a secluded part of the neighborhood where they form a garden. each discovers the place independently but become friends and share their problems. But an event changes everything, and forces them to grow up.

[Harpalus · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some interesting ideas here but it could have used more care to detail. There are often times were timelines / actions of the characters don't make sense. Events are written from multiple characters perspectives which is a fun idea, but it often just involved multiple characters saying or thinking the exact same thing but worded slightly differently makeing it very one dimensional. I think the basic skeleton for the story was good but maybe the writing was rushed spoiling things.