Restoring Harmony
by Joelle Anthony
Putnam, 2010
ISBN 978-0-399-25281-5
$22.50 (hc), 306 pp, ages 14 – 18
www.penguin.com
Books with a strong female protagonist are always welcome, and 16-year-old Molly McClure is both a heart-warming figure and a resilient young woman. This novel is set in 2041, after a world-wide collapse due to running out of oil that leaves Molly and her family having to be self-sufficient on their isolated farm in Canada. Molly has to go into the USA on a rescue mission and face the poverty and crime of this post-apocalypse society with her farming skills and her ingenuity as her only strengths, and her “ever-with-her” fiddle to give her comfort in tough situations. She has to learn who to trust and who she can’t rely on. Molly is smart and feisty, and what could be a doom and gloom story is full of courage and hope (and a touch of possible romance).
Review by Naomi Wakan.
This review is from Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Jan/Feb 2011 issue.
