Helpful Score: 2
I really like Margaret Mahy's novels - they are about teenagers and strange things happen to them - sort of young adult contemportary fantasy. Seventeen year old Roland is a popular young man - prefect at Ault Academy, dating the prettiest girl in school, smart, good-looking and has a good relationship with most of his teachers. But underneath it all, throughout his life Roland has felt that something inside him is warning him to be "careful", that he has to keep up his wholesome, normal image. He thinks it is because his father left when he was 10 and Roland must be a good, strong person that his mother can rely on. Things begin to change for him when one day one of Roland's teachers asks Roland to make friends with and keep an eye out for Jess Ferret, a quiet, unnoticable girl in Roland's classes. Jess is hiding something and Roland wants to know what it is. In this story almost everyone is more than they initially seem. Roland finds out that he has supressed something from his past that is the key to what is going on and who he is.
