Anara Guard

A week before her sixteenth birthday Katya is shocked and dismayed when her parents announce that she is to quit school and join her mother cleaning office buildings at night to help support her brother in college. Never mind that she, too, has dreams and is a talented artist. Unwilling to accept a life of someone else's choosing, Katya packs a bag and runs away, disappearing into the city of Chicago. Though she is finally free to forge her own path, being on her own results in greater challenges than she had anticipated.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well I enjoyed this story, and I appreciated that it skirted some of the literary tropes I was half-expecting to see. The author does a nice job building an atmosphere of late 60s/early 70s, and I found the narrative refreshing and well done overall. I empathized with and was rooting for Katya all the way.

I received this ARC via LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.… (altro)

Katya is the daughter of Polish immigrants living in Chicago in 1970. Katya dreams of a future at Art School, while her parents believe she needs to drop out of school and help support her family. Katya sets out on an adventure on the streets of Chicago, where she meets characters who put both speed bumps in her path and offer to help her. Enter Dr. Robert Lewis, an aging, widowed doctor who spends months trying to find Katya, and finds his own way outside his regular life.

I received this book as an advanced reader copy. I enjoyed the story, it is told from the POV of both Katya and Robert, and both are characters looking for direction in their lives. The author also touches on the effects of the Vietnam War on American youths, and how criminalizing women’s healthcare was detrimental to the quality of life for women and their families.

There are a few plot developments that are a little convenient (the discovery of the bus at the end felt forced), but overall I enjoyed the time spent with this book.… (altro)