A certain simplicity of explanation, an occasional withholding of details—what the heroine's father died of, for instance—identify [A Sound of Chariots] as a work for children. And Mollie Hunter is, of course, an accomplished writer of children's books…. [Her books] are heavily plotted and detailed, with a clear, unobtrusive style and a sure sense of storytelling. But A Sound of Chariots is a remarkable departure. It seems clearly to be her own story, and while she sustains the narrative at a level comprehensible to children, the writing is dense with lush language and startling, impressionistic passages of discovery and meditation. What's more … she writes a story that traces the gradual evolution of its heroine, Bridie McShane, from early childhood to young womanhood. And without ignoring the problems and the sense of alienation of adolescence, she places them in a framework of a life, of generations. Hunter...