Rodgers's deft plotting, her expert use of the Manhattan setting, and her accurate ear for teenage language make this an impressive first novel. The plot's premise makes for an unusually tight structure: what if mother and daughter could reverse roles for one day? The author has selected a day which is both typical (a weekday during the school year) and special (the father's most important clients are coming to dinner, and a major conference has been scheduled with Annabel's principal and the school psychiatrist). Most of the events take place in the Andrews' Manhattan apartment, with excursions to a neighborhood liquor store and to the school. This economy of scene, like the one-day time frame, help keeps the story controlled, and, given its initial premise, surprisingly plausible.

The single most striking quality in the novel is Rodgers's mastery of a thirteenyear-old's point of view. Annabel's language...