by Sandra Cline

Pug Sheridan proves herself to be a lively protagonist and a sure-footed storyteller in a compelling coming-of-age chronicle set in turn-of-the-century rural Alabama. At the outset, Pug looks back upon the decade that will form her narrative and begins her tale with trepidation: ''The man I shot had friends whose hearts and minds remain as closed as his once was. It has become my habit to listen for footsteps behind me in the dark ... As I stir the smoldering ashes of the past, I can feel the searing heat on my face.'' Here is a first-person voice that is both sassy and poetic. Pug’s ''confession'' builds, inexorably, toward what appears to be a justified homicide. While remaining uplifting, Pug Sheridan is written in a magical realist mode. A page turner with a rapid pulse, Pug Sheridan, will be treasured by readers of all ages.