Waiting for No One

Gr 8 Up—This sequel to Wild Orchid (Red Deer, 2006) stands on its own, but that book gives more background, substance, and credence to its unlikely heroine. Taylor Jane, 19, is applying for her first job. Against her mother's advice, she prints her résumé on blue paper, "a more advanced form of white." She writes down Harold Pinter (her pet gerbil) as a reference and lists her seven strengths, one of which is Asperger's syndrome. Readers are irresistibly drawn into Taylor's personal narrative as she describes her carefully planned and uneasily navigated world of waiting for the interview, laced with doubt and certain of unpredictability: I hope I get it, hope I don't....Taylor arms her days with charms, her favorite numbers, and the color yellow; she battles swear words that bubble out during nervousness; she cradles her anxiety in obsessive behaviors. Most raw and powerful are Taylor's efforts to master her fear of not being employable and never living independently. She's stuck with the bitter irony of feeling alone yet dependent on her mother. Her father has a new life but Taylor remains his beloved, if challenging, daughter. While visiting him, Harold Pinter escapes. In her panic to find him, Taylor shatters her father's girlfriend's plate collection. For Taylor, in the aftermath of the destruction, there's a rare acknowledgment of her irrational behavior. It is a turning point in confronting the internal mayhem that rules her. When anxiety, obsession, and sleeplessness overcome her control mechanisms, she accepts help. Taylor is a refreshing and inspirational delight. She is beguiling in her earnestness, her honesty, her quest for independence, and her unyielding determination to wait for no one.—Alison Follos, North Country School, Lake Placid, NY