A Danger to Herself and Others

Gr 10 Up—Hannah Gold knows that there has been a terrible misunderstanding. She spent an enjoyable several weeks at a college summer program in California, where she formed a tight friendship with her roommate, Agnes. Now she is being carefully monitored and denied basic privileges at a high security institution. While she goes through the events of the past few weeks in her head, she tries to make sense of the tragic accident that sent Agnes falling two stories to the concrete below their dorm window. Although Hannah had been secretly seeing Agnes's boyfriend, Jonah, she knows that she would never have done anything to harm Agnes physically. Through conversations with her therapist, brief interactions with other inmates, and constant internal dialogue, Hannah analyzes her privileged childhood as an only child of wealthy parents in New York City, and wonders if she is not the person she always thought she was. Sheinmel creates an intensely likable unreliable narrator. Hannah's voice is convincingly realistic, highlighting the subtle nuances that make up the thought processes of a troubled teenager. Though the novel centers on the theme of mental illness and its devastating consequences, it is fully engaging and manages to avoid being too gloomy. The author's beautiful prose strikes a perfect balance between serious emotion and humorous dialogue.