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Breathe My Name

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Breathe My Name

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Overview

Frances can forgive. She can even forget. But she can never escape her past. . . .

In this compelling psychological thriller from the acclaimed author of Teach Me, Frances Robinson has the perfect life: loving adoptive parents, a great best friend, and a cute new boyfriend. But Frances has a secret.

Once upon a time she wasn’t Frances Robinson. She was Shine, and she lived with her three sisters and her birth mother, Afton Jelks, far out in the country. But the loneliness overtook Afton’s fragile mind, and one day she smothered her daughters, one after another. Only Frances escaped.

Now Afton is out of prison. And she wants to finish what she started. . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440678530
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	11/08/2007
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	341 KB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

R.A. Nelson is the author of the novels Teach Me, Breathe My Name, Days of Little Texas, and Throat. His work was selected as a finalist for National Public Radio's list of the "Best Young Adult Fiction Ever Written." Nelson was chosen a Horn Book Newcomer and his books have been nominated to the YALSA Best Books for Young Adults list and recognized by the Parents' Choice Awards, the New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age list, Booksense Kid Picks, the Miami Herald Best Books of the Year, teenreads.com Best Books of the year, and others. Nelson is also published in Germany and Hungary. He lives with his family in Alabama and is a recipient of NASA's prestigious Silver Snoopy Award for "outstanding support provided to the Space Shuttle program." Teach Me has been optioned by Protagonist Films for a feature film. Follow him on Twitter @ranelsonya.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Nelson's incandescent writing...transfixes the reader." -Kirkus Reviews

From the B&N Reads Blog

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Editorial Reviews

In a sad, haunting story of murder and its tragic aftermath, 18-year-old Frances Robinson seems to have a picture-perfect life in tiny Bethel, Ala., complete with a loving family, a fun-loving best friend and even a cute new boyfriend. But beneath this happy façade lies a dark and ugly past: 11 years ago, her mother gradually descended into insanity and one day suffocated Frances's three younger sisters; Frances escaped death only because a passerby came to her rescue. Now, safe and secure with her adopted family, Frances struggles to move on and forget her survivor's guilt. But all the terrible memories come crashing back when she learns that her mother has been released from prison and placed in a halfway home-and wants to see Frances. "I need to see you," she writes from her undisclosed location. "We have to finish." Deciding that she can't fully embrace her future without confronting her past, Frances and her boyfriend, Nix, secretly take off on a road trip to find her mother. The story captivates at times, but progresses awkwardly. The flashbacks to Frances's childhood disrupt the pacing at the beginning, but most are too brief for readers to glean significant insight from them. The momentum picks up considerably when the teens set off on their journey, but the curve-ball conclusion isn't remotely plausible. Ages 14-up. (Nov.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

Gr 10 Up- Eighteen-year-old Frances Robinson, born Francine Jelks, has been living in Alabama with her loving, adopted family for years, but there are still nights when she wakes up in a cold sweat, reminded that she once lived in a place called Fireless with her mother, Afton, and three younger sisters. One day a lawyer arrives, informing her that Afton has been released into a halfway house and giving her a letter from her mother; it ends, "We need to finish." The last time Frances saw Afton was when the woman tried to suffocate her with a pillow after murdering her siblings in the same fashion. With the help of her friend Ann Mirette, Frances plans a road trip with her boyfriend, "Nix," to find her birth mother. As scared as she is of seeing this frightening figure from the past, she wants to know if her mother was all bad. Can there be any good left in a person who was capable of something so evil? Nelson's novel is a thoughtful, moody, and entirely thrilling book. Flashbacks of Frances's youth in Fireless establish a creepy atmosphere showing Afton's descent into darkness. Nelson lightens the mood with a supporting cast of sympathetic and quirky characters, including recent New Orleans transplant Nix. Breathe My Name doesn't shy away from exploring the gray areas: forgiveness and family. With major twists and turns in the last 50 pages, this book will keep readers riveted until the very end.-Jennifer Barnes, Homewood Library, IL
Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Frances left Fireless, her mother's dark imaginary world, years ago and found comfort in an adoptive family, but when she receives a letter from a psychiatric hospital saying "finish it," horrific memories surface. Two small sisters lie lifeless on a bed; sick games turn giggles into shrieks; and a mother's saucer eyes terrify. To end these nightmarish visitations, Frances embarks on a secret road trip to face her mother. Her boyfriend, Nix, drives, offering empathy and humor. Nelson's teen characters emerge as unique, fully realized people with accents, physical features and emotional dimensions that distinguish them from familiar young-adult caricatures. Vivid, unnerving scenes from Fireless break up Frances's present-day journey, jolting readers and placing them inside her psyche. With sensationalized news everywhere, teens will be fascinated by Frances's childhood at the center of a media-crazed tragedy. Readers also see what happens to the tragic players after cameras stop clicking. An unlikely final twist does not dilute Nelson's incandescent writing. Its shimmering clarity transfixes the reader, candling both damaging and redemptive familial forces. (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Reviews