As Linda speaks about the chain of events that led to the murder-suicide of two men she knew, the tragic story of the 13-year- old's life unfolds. To hear Linda tell it, these are the facts of her existence; nothing to feel bad about. In fact, Linda doesn't feel anything at all. In Brock Cole's somber, skillful narrative, the reader supplies what Linda, at first, cannot--an emotional response to the hard and horrifying facts of Linda's life, which has been characterized by abuse and abandonment. But at the group home for girl's where Linda is staying, the barrier to emotions that Linda has built over the years in self defense shows signs of cracking, and in those small spaces, fragile signs of hope emerge for this bright yet battered child. (Age 14 and older)

When the police find 13-year-old Linda, she is standing silently on a blood-spattered parking ramp, the only witness to a murder/suicide. The now-dead gunman was her mother's boyfriend. And his victim -- old enough to be Linda's father -- was Linda's lover. Told in her own words, Linda's story is harrowing, torn straight from the headlines, and unforgettable. It has taken children's literature, as we know it, to an entirely new level.