A rather unique YA novel set in a women's prison just as World War I is beginning, based partially on the history of the first U.S. women's prison. Told in the first person by teen-aged Libby, victimized into jewel thievery and then arrested and imprisoned, it gives the argument, through fiction, for prison rehabilitation rather than punishment, through recounting the effect of the prisoners putting on a Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera. It also makes the women convicts into real people, not just criminals. An enjoyable book, as well as a thoughtful one.

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