In Ordinary People, Guest told us about one failed family and the pain of an adolescent boy suffering from a mother's coldness and guilt over a brother's death. In Second Heaven, Guest writes about three failed families, from the viewpoint of one member of each….

Most YA readers will be drawn to Gale's character, his strength in surviving, his confusion, fear, shame, and angry rebellion against authority. Guest tells poignantly how abuse hurts the spirit as well as the body of a child and, though she ends the story in a positive way, the reader knows clearly that Gale will always suffer in some way from his father's beatings. The loneliness, aimlessness, depression, worry over children and other concerns of the adult characters, Michael and Cat, will be less understandable to YA readers, many of whom might find it difficult to begin the novel starting with Michael's point...