title: CLAIRE AT SIXTEEN (Sebastian Sisters)
author: Susan Beth Pfeffer
description: Grade 8 Up-- "There's always a way if you need something badly enough" is 16-year-old Claire Sebastian's credo. Shrewd, brazen, and unhindered by scruples, she uses her striking beauty and sharp wits to manipulate others. In this third novel about the Sebastian sisters, the family's financial situation has deteriorated since the youngest of the four sisters, Sybil, was crippled in an auto accident two years ago. Claire uncovers the fact that her father is the illegitimate son of a prosperous businessman who also happens to be the grandfather of the boy with whom she is "in lust." She lures Scotty into an elopement, intending to extort the money for Sybil's rehabilitation from her grandfather in exchange for her agreement to an annulment. While Claire rationalizes this ruthless exploitation of others as prompted by sisterly devotion, her family maintains that she's really doing it as a test of her own powers. While some readers will find her unscrupulous behavior reprehensible, others will defend it as a resourceful and daring solution to a critical family problem. Although this is not as powerful a portrait of family dynamics under stress as Pfeffer's The Year Without Michael (Bantam, 1987), it has a fast-moving plot and an array of characters convincing in their selfishness. --Merilyn S. Burrington, Vergennes Union High School, VT<br />Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
zlib_text: Claire at Sixteen
  The Sebastian Sisters, Book Three
  Susan Beth Pfeffer
  
  CH A P TE R  O
  N E
  “What a dump.”
  “Claire! Clark’s house is not a dump. Behave yourself.”
  “Ouch, Evvie, that hurt,” Claire Sebastian said, rubbing her arm
  where her older sister Evvie had punched it. Fortunately, Claire was
  dressed for a December evening in Boston, and her many layers of
  clothing had softened the blow. Claire hoped she wouldn’t be black-
  and-blue as a result of her older sister’s enthusiasm.
  “Christmas with the Christians,” Sam Steinmetz said. “My
  grandparents warned me it would come to this.”
  Evvie gently slugged him as well. Sam didn’t seem to care about
  bruising and simply laughed.
  “The two of you, behave yourselves,” Evvie whispered. “It’s very
  sweet of Clark to have us to his house for Christmas dinner.”
  “Clark is sweet,” Claire replied. “That’s his sole function in life, to
  be sweet, especially to us.”
  “And that’s exactly the kind of comment I want you to stop
  making,” Evvie said. “Think abou