The Glare

Gr 7-10–Hedda lives a technology-free life with her mother on their bucolic Arizona farm, sequestered from what she calls the “Glare” of the ubiquitous, omnipresent universe of cell phones, computers, tablets, and other screens. An extended trip to stay with her estranged father’s family in Silicon Valley rips her world apart in ways she could never imagine. Deadly secrets are revealed, plunging Hedda into a mystery that will reveal staggering truths from her past. Ambitious in scope, this dark novel takes on a range of topics and themes: adolescent coming-of-age, techno-dystopia, and a little romance thrown in for good measure. At first this thematic range feels unfocused, but Harrison fully engages readers by the last 100 pages or so, locking on to the critical mystery which is resolved in an extraordinarily compelling manner.