St. Ursula's Girls Against the Atomic Bomb Book

Raine Rassaby is a senior at St. Ursula's Academy in New York City, but rather than study, she rescues wounded birds, arranges pilgrimages to nuclear missile silos, befriends street people, gets arrested, and organizes a group called St. Ursula's Girls Against the Atomic Bomb. The Mother Superior, hoping to set Raine on a more wholesome path, sends her to the school guidance counselor. But the counselor, Al Klepatar, is beleaguered by problems of his own. He has lost interest in his work and suspects that his wife is falling in love with another man.

Al is strangely drawn into Raine's life, and the more he becomes involved in her passions, the less he understands himself. In the depths of their fractured worlds, Raine and Al are surprised by what they discover - about the world, and about themselves.

Jenny Ingram - VOYA

Raine Rassaby repeats the twelfth grade at a different school, St. Ursula's Academy in New York, where she meets her neighbor and guidance counselor, Al Klepatar. Raine, a free spirit, is not a successful student, and Al, a man with little vision, is no great counselor. Raine battles nuclear warfare, and Al fights alcoholism. They bond after experiencing betrayal in their respective relationships: Raine's boyfriend leaves her after she becomes pregnant, and Al's wife leaves him for a younger man. Eventually, they settle together platonically on a farm in the country. Raine's journal makes up part of the novel, and as it becomes increasingly unreliable, it leads the reader to wonder about her perspective on the world. Hurley captures the personalities of Raine and Al so well that they become irritating on the page. Raine is a self-centered, irresponsible dreamer, and Al's meek nature is frustrating. Both characters are aware of their faults and of their outsider status, but they choose not to change. Their eccentric natures, Raine's decision to leave her parents and her upscale urban lifestyle behind, and a cast of odd characters, including an activist nun and a rabbinical student, will win favor with teens on the fringe of society. VOYA Codes 3Q 3P S A/YA (Readable without serious defects; Will appeal with pushing; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult-marketed book recommended for Young Adults). 2003, MacAdam/Cage, 264p., Ages 15 to Adult.