title: The Cresswell Plot
author: Eliza Wass
description: Gr 9 UpCastley (Castella) Cresswell is a triplet and one of six children born to a self-styled prophet of the Lord, who is content to rule his family's insular and fundamentalist religious "cult" from a dilapidated home in the woods of upstate New York. Father has written his own confounding book of revelations and beliefs that the children must study along with the Bible in a home where food can be in short supply when selling refurbished junk doesn't bring in enough money. A mostly silent and disabled mother, whose legs never healed when God was the chosen doctor, looks on while the three boys and three girls, whom their father has matched up together to be holy spouses in heaven, attempt to get by in the town high school, where they are typically treated like freaks. Two of Castella's brothers endure physical privations and spiritual punishment due to their interest in girls outside of the family, while Castella flirts with the lures of the outside world after being partnered up with George, a talkative freshman in drama class who wants to draw her out. This claustrophobic novel has little to recommend it to teens: no relatable plot, few convincing or compelling characters, and lots of bizarre lifestyle depictions make the impending crisis of the Cresswell family little more than a head-scratching curiosity. Readers may be unclear whether the book's goals include establishing quirkiness or eliciting sympathy for the children of a dangerous religious fanatic. VERDICT This attempt at gritty outsider realistic fiction is unlikely to draw converts.Suzanne Gordon, Lanier High School, Sugar Hill, GA
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  * * *
  
  THOSE AUTUMN NIGHTS
  
  
  THERESA ROMAIN
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Those Autumn Nights
  
  
  * * *
  
  All
  
  
  ’s Fair in War
  
  
  …
  
  Raised in wealth and privilege, Eliza Greenleaf was a dutiful daughter—until
  she met Bertram Gage. The dashing young cavalryman swept her into a passionate
  affair, winning her body and soul. But low-born Bertie wasn’t good enough for
  the Greenleaf family, who thwarted the headstrong couple’s plans to elope.
  Chastened, Eliza threw herself into the whirl of polite society, while Bertie
  returned to battle on the Continent until a bullet ended his career and almost
  took his life.
  
  …And Love
  
  Ten years after first meeting Eliza, Bertie is hunting for a sense of
  peacetime purpose—and a subtle revenge on the Greenleaf family that once
  shunned him. Their fortunes now fallen, the ever-proud family must let their
  ancestral home, and Bertie takes the lease that shoves them from their
  doorstep. When Eliza crosses his path again after years apart, their passion
  is as 