Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Feb 2012
352 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
The Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area stretches across two million acres in northern Idaho. In its heart sits the Alice Marshall School, where fifty teenage girls come to escape their histories and themselves.
Lida Wallace has tried to negate herself in every way possible. At Alice Marshall, she meets Elsa Boone, a fierce native Idahoan; Jules, who seems too healthy to belong at the school; and Gia Longchamps, whose glamour entrances the entire camp. As the girls prepare for a wilderness trek, Lida is both thrilled and terrified to be chosen as Gia's friend. But everyone has their secrets - their "Things" they try to protect; and when those come out, the knives do as well.
The Girls of No Return is a bold and powerful debut.
Ages 14+
"Starred Review. This debut is richly rewarding and will linger for its subtle examination of human behavior and emotions - love, trust, guilt and forgiveness. A smashing debut." - Kirkus Reviews
"Saldin presents the complex, layered terrain of relationships that develop among teens who share cabins and cigarettes and bathhouse duty but often know only the bare minimum about one another's former lives... The remote setting enhances the palpable sense of danger; some of the girls fear bears or mountain lions, but, really, the scariest thing they could confront in those woods is one another. And themselves." - Horn Book
This information about The Girls of No Return was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Erin Saldin went on her first backpacking trip in northern Idaho at age fourteen. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times and the Best New American Voices series, as well as multiple literary magazines. She lives in Missoula, Montana.
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