ACROSS THE REACH BY CYNTHIA FURLONG REYNOLDS

Being exiled to her grandparents' house in Maine for the entire summer vacation seemed about the worst thing that could happen to eleven-year-old Elizabeth. Then she thought about strange Great-Grammie Henley! How could Elizabeth spend all summer with the withered old woman who clutches a worn rag doll and speaks nonsense? In her first novel for middle readers, Cynthia Furlong Reynolds draws from her childhood summers spent near the ocean in Maine to craft a story about the special bonds that unite family members, at times across many generations and through the darkest family secrets. 269 pages. hardcover.