Search - The Braid

This was a really lyrical story about a tough time in Scottish history; The Clearances during 1850's. The story swapped storlines between two sisters, Jeanie and Sarah. There were short poems between each sisters telling of the latest installment in their lives.

The story in and of itself was amazing, but after reading the author's notes at the end of the book I was really blown away by the complex structure of the book. But that stucture in no way interfered with the pace or voice of the book.

The theme of the braid is carried throughout as the stories were braided together. As an added layer of nuance, the author notes that, "In the narrative poems, the lines all contain the number of syllables of the age of the speaker. At the beginning of the story, Jeannie is fourteen, and the lines in her poes are fourteen syllables each; Sara is fifteen and her poems are composed of fifteen-syllable lines. By the end of the story, Jeannie is sixteen and Sarah is seventeen, and the line of their poems are conrrespondingly longer."

Amazing! I'm giving this to my 12 year-old neice. She may turn up her nose at it initially because it's such a skinny book (it may seem too childish to her), but I'm going to encourage her to read it because it works on so many levels; historical ficion, accessible poetry, and important young-adult themes.