The author of five novels for young adults, author A. LaFaye has, in the space of a few years, created a number of memorable books featuring interesting settings and spirited female protagonists. Often choosing historical settings, LaFaye has placed two novels--The Year of the Sawdust Man and its sequel, Nissa's Place--in Depression-era Louisiana; another piece of historical fiction, Edith Shay, is set in mid-nineteenth-century Wisconsin--LaFaye's birthplace; while a fourth takes place in the hippie realms of the 1970s. These novels all feature plucky young women learning the lessons of life and coming of age in ways uniquely their own. With her fifth title, Dad, in Spirit, LaFaye tells a contemporary tale, and this from the point of view of a young boy.

LaFaye's stories take readers into the dynamics of families as they transcend both time and the class divide. The author and university instructor once...