Book 1 of the Charm City Chronicles, Ednor Scardens by Kathleen Barker takes place in Baltimore in the nineteen sixties. The
title is a play on words; a twist on the name of the neighborhood in which the
protagonist, Kate Fitzgerald and her friends live: Ednor Gardens. The story
begins as Kate and her chums are leaving the sixth grade in their coed
parochial school. Kate comes from a working class catholic family, she and her
mother live with her grandmother, with no father in the home; he was killed in the service before she was born.
Kate has developed breasts, and as such she is the envy of
all her girlfriends, and the object of scrutiny by all the boys. She lives with
her mother and grandmother, in a loving and supportive family, and has the
usual problems and worries that girls of that age have. She develops a crush on
both Gabe and Michael, who just happen to be brothers. During her last years at
her coed school a new priest joins the faculty; one who is a danger both to
boys and to girls.
Boys are never-ending source of mystery and trouble for
Kate. There is plenty of the real-life
misbehaving which I remember in my own teen years, and the general partying and
abuse of alcohol among her and her set of friends is much as I remember in my
small town set of friends.
This is not by any means simply a novel of fond
reminiscence, however – Ednor Scardens deals with the issues which plague girls
today – the temptations and pitfalls of life are trans-generational. Teenage girls and boys all struggle with the
desire to remain chaste, and yet they struggle with their own physical changes
and the wants and needs which those changes bring with them. Each teenager
deals with those issues in their own way, and Kate’s personal struggles make
for a wonderful coming of age tale.
The small dramas which happen in their daily life are every
bit as entertaining as are the larger dramas; and are very real in the way they
are portrayed. There is so much humor and love between Kate and her friends
that the reader lives the story with them. The dark side of this story (and
there IS a dark side), is handled very well.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a
well-crafted romance. You won't be able to put it down until you have reached
the end! Kathleen Barker has just published the second book in the Charm City Chronicles series, The Body War.
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