2014 Book Reviews

Deported, by Shirley Gerald Ware

Strategic Book Publishing. 2014

Review by James Patrick Smith, FRESH! Literary Magazine

Shirley Gerald Ware's newest Young Adult novel, Deported, is filled with mystery and intrigue. As in her recent novels Joseph’s Fears and Man in the Basement Window, Deported features a young woman whose happy family life is suddenly placed in jeopardy by a mysterious event. Ms. Ware expertly explores her heroine’s anguished attempts to understand the meaning of this traumatic event, and to regain stability in her life. And just when you think you've figured out the mystery, the author takes you down several bumpy roads filled with more speculation and intrigue.

Fourteen-year-old Lula Mae Smith Gifford has lived all her life in Chesterfield New York, a suburb north of Manhattan. She is strong-willed, intelligent and very curious. Lula Mae's life is suddenly turned upside down when she watches, helpless, as four armed men with sawed off shotguns enter her home and take away her father. She is horrified, and her only recourse is to stand by quietly with her mother as her dad is “deported” back to an unknown country. Over the next two years, Lula Mae observes as her once happy home is dismantled.

Lula Mae's life is filled with sorrow and doubt. She seeks clues to find her dad, but she is told to go about her life in a “normal” way. Deported tells a story nestled within stories with amazing craftiness. Just when you feel you have guessed the ending, Ware plots yet another mystery to keep you guessing.

Lula Mae’s remarkable journey leaves you spellbound from beginning to end. Readers never know down what road the story will take them next. Her story will provide enjoyable reading along with some useful life insights to adults too.

Shirley Gerald Ware is the author of The Final Goodbye, Somebody Too, Just Kids, Joseph’s Fears and Man in the Basement Window.

She publishes FRESH! Literary Magazine, featuring teens' and adults' creative writing. Deported, published by Strategic Book Publishing, is slated for release in March 2014. But you can order your autographed copy from the author today, at FRESH! Literary Magazine.