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by Catherine Atkins
Sixteen-year-old Jeff, returning home after having been kidnapped and held prisoner for three years.
Sixteen-year-old Jeff, returning home after having been kidnapped and held prisoner for three years, must face his family, friends, and school and the widespread assumption that he engaged in sexual activity with his kidnapper.
"Jeff's recovery is sensitively and dramatically handled, but the tension eases up as he no longer seems threatened and as the mystery of what really happened to him is revealed to match everyone's initial assumptions. Although it doesn't quite deliver on its promise of suspense the whole way through, this chilling story will put readers through an emotional wringer." —Publishers Weekly
"A powerful, difficult, yet cathartic read." —School Library Journal
"Readers will not be able to view incidents of kidnapping and sexual abuse in the same way again." —Kirkus Reviews
This information about When Jeff Comes Home was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Catherine Atkins has enjoyed a career as a news reporter, a talk show host, a teacher, and a writer. She taught alternative education programs and worked with people on improving their writing skills. Atkins has worked with students of all ages, from very young children to adults. During the course of her career, she learned that she especially likes working with teenagers, and When Jeff Comes Home attests to her ability to empathize with teenage problems and concerns. Atkins says that she enjoys working with teenagers because they have empathy, as well as childlike curiosity mixed with an intellect that amazes her. She says that teenagers can be mature one minute and naive the next, qualities that help define the teen characters in When Jeff Comes Home. When Jeff Comes Home is Atkins's first novel and it reveals to readers the insights she has...
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