A Very Fine Line Book

Rosalind Kemp is the youngest in a family of sisters. She lives a comfortable life in a small town in Ontario. Ros is active, loving, and artistic. And, she has second sight.

It is a part of her nature with which she has trouble coming to terms: sometimes it is nothing more than a pleasant parlor trick, like knowing that King Edward will abdicate; sometimes it is a curse that makes her feel freakish; and sometimes it is just plain terrifying. Ros tries everything she can to suppress the gift, and subsequently herself, but nothing works. If she is going to live her life fully, she will have to come to terms with every part of her being, just as everyone must.

This brilliant novel is Julie Johnston at her very best: it is funny, frightening, and painfully insightful.

KLIATT

Do some people have the ability to see events that will happen in the future? Stories abound, as we know, and they are always riveting, because of the question that arises: if someone can see the future, is it possible to change the future? I recently reviewed Marcus Sedgwick's The Foreshadowing, a book set during WW I, in which the main character was haunted by the tragedies she could foresee. Johnston has set her story in rural Ontario in the 1940s, during WW II, with young Rosalind, the 7th daughter of a 7th daughter, able to see events in the future as she approaches puberty. She will do anything to stop this from happening, including pretending to be a boy, trying to fool fate. Her harried mother and older sisters are exasperated but go along with her pretense, even when she leaves school and is seen as a mental case. Her disguise succeeds in fooling Adrian, the young man hired to be the tutor for Rosalind (known to him as Ross) and her cousin Corny, until Rosalind is confused by her strange feelings for Adrian and the flirtation she can't control—Adrian is confused as well! Things turn very serious when Rosalind becomes aware of two tragedies that will happen to her sisters. She tries to stop them from happening and feels incredible guilt when she has no power to change the future. Adrian, knowing now why she has pretended to be a boy, is first at a loss to help her deal with the situation, but later can assure her that if she can see a tragedy before it unfolds, but cannot stop it from happening, she must not take on the guilt of feeling she has caused it to happen. A quirky, well-written family story dealing with an always-interesting theme.