This Just in: New Young Adult Books at the Milton Public Library

The following is a list of books for young adults, which were recently added to the Milton Public Library’s collection. The summaries were found on the Old Colony Library Network’s website.

The Girls of No Return by Erin Saldin

In a narrative told through extended flashbacks that alternate with "epilogue" sections, secretive Lida reflects on the time she spent as a troubled 16-year-old at the Alice Marshall School for Girls, tucked deep in the Idaho wilderness. Each of the girls at Alice Marshall has a "Thing," something from her past that brought her there. Lida, hostile toward her father and stepmother and still mourning her absent mother, isn't interested in sharing, but little by little, she reveals the reasons behind her destructive behavior.

Debut author Saldin carefully builds suspense through the complex relationships that Lida forms with the other girls, particularly fierce, dangerous Boone, who has been abandoned by all of the people in her life and torments the other girls, and enigmatic Gia, who enchants and manipulates Lida. Saldin brings a polished descriptive style to the expansive wilderness setting, which subtly mirrors the shadowed layers of each girl's consciousness. Those expecting a violent confrontation won't be disappointed; through it, Lida learns the meaning of real friendship and forgiveness. Ages 14-up.

Ripper by Amy Carol Reeves

It’s 1888, and after her mother’s sudden death, Abbie is sent to live with her grandmother in a posh London neighborhood. When she begins volunteering at Whitechapel Hospital, Abbie finds she has a passion for helping the abused and sickly women there.

But within days, patients begin turning up murdered at the hands of Jack the Ripper. As more women are murdered, Abbie realizes that she and the Ripper share a strange connection: she has visions showing the Ripper luring his future victims to their deaths-moments before he turns his knife upon them. Her desperation to stop the massacres leads Abbie on a perilous hunt for the killer. And her search leads to a mysterious brotherhood whose link to the Ripper threatens not just London but all of mankind.

Ask the Passengers by A.S. King

Astrid Jones desperately wants to confide in someone, but her mother's pushiness and her father's lack of interest tell her they're the last people she can trust. Instead, Astrid spends hours lying on the backyard picnic table watching airplanes fly overhead. She doesn't know the passengers inside, but they're the only people who won't judge her when she asks them her most personal questions like what it means that she's falling in love with a girl.

As her secret relationship becomes more intense and her friends demand answers, Astrid has nowhere left to turn. She can't share the truth with anyone except the people at thirty thousand feet, and they don't even know she's there. But little does Astrid know just how much even the tiniest connection will affect these strangers' lives--and her own--for the better.

In this truly original portrayal of a girl struggling to break free of society's definitions, Printz Honor author A.S. King asks readers to question everything--and offers hope to those who will never stop seeking real love.