Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea

Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea (2012) by Morgan Callan Rogers. This is a beautifully told tale, set on the Maine seashore, of the coming of age of a girl named Florine. About forty pages in, the book grabs you by the heart and won't let go. Twelve-year-old Florine worships her mother, Carlie, which makes it all the more painful when, on a short vacation with a friend, Carlie disappears. Florine and her father spend the next several years in agony, always wondering what could have happened to Carlie -- did she leave them, or was she taken from them? Meanwhile, Florine goes through all the mixed-up times of growing from a girl of twelve to a woman of 18. She lives with her beloved grandmother, Grand, after her father takes up with Stella, a horror of a woman who moves into the picture shortly after Carlie disappears. I found this book compulsively readable and could hardly put it down until I had finished it. Grade: A