Seven for a Secret: A Novel

Mary C. Sheppard's Seven for a Secret is a Newfoundland family saga for young adults--complete with Newfie dialect ("Lord jumpin' dyin'"), tragedy at sea, and plenty of skeletons in the closet. Set in the outport community of Cook's Cove in the summer of 1960, this first novel tells the story of three cousins whose friendship is put to the test by the visit of a mysterious stranger. Sheppard's loquacious narrator, Melinda, is a smart, curvaceous 15-year-old who can't wait even another year to marry her fisherman boyfriend. Her cousin Rebecca is a goody two-shoes with movie-star looks and a passion for drawing, while Kate, her intellectual city cousin, is, according to Melinda, as "innocent as a herring heading towards a net."

When these three "maids" start to determine their own destinies, no family secret is safe for long. Witty, irreverent, and often tender, Seven for a Secret offers a compelling glimpse into outport life in an era when the Sears catalogue represented the height of fashion and getting married at 16 was de rigueur for most girls. Carrying the novel is the voice of Melinda--by turns raunchy, frivolous, compassionate, and mature. Although the inconsistent use of local speech patterns makes her voice seem somewhat contrived, Melinda is a sympathetic character whose choices may surprise and intrigue teenage readers. --Lisa Alward