Stained »

Jennifer Richard Jacobson is the author of picture books, stories for beginning readers, and middle-grade novels. Stained is her first book written for young adults. Born and raised in New Hampshire, she attended Lesley College and Harvard Graduate School of Education. She lives in a cottage, built in 1802, in Maine.

Gabe has shared fourteen years of growing up next door. He's "a golden boy, an all-star." Yet now, in the spring of 1975, he's missing, disappeared on the brink of senior year at Weaver High. The whole town is set to go searching for him.

Benny has only been in New Hampshire since January, yet for Joss, he's the answer to a long-held prayer to be someone in somebody's eyes.

She loves them both.

Father Warren — hair turning white and "kind of cool in his black clothes" — is a link between the three of them. Or a wedge. Or a threat. For Joss, the priest holds power over her sense of herself; for Benny, power over his soul; for Gabe, so mysterious and alluring, he holds the power of destiny.

In a story shot with suspense, these four characters, and the lives of others they've touched in their small town, intermingle with unforgettable force.

Publishers Weekly

In our Best Books citation, PW wrote, "This quietly powerful, expertly told tale set in 1975 stars a 17-year-old lapsed Catholic in a community of believers. A triumphant ending puts this girl with the `stained soul' squarely on the side of the angels." Ages 14-up. (Sept.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.