THE BOOK FAIR

Review:

In the 1980’s, Eleven year old Rachel is the only member of her family to survive a tragic event in Chicago.  Rachel remembers falling, but little else.  The only witness is a young boy, who believes he saw a man on the roof of the building from which he saw people fall.  The story, revealed from different perspectives of family members and neighbors, moves between past and present.

Rachel, of mixed race, is sent to live with her black grandmother and aunt where she is loved and cared for.  Yet Rachel dreams of her mother, her home and her family and has little memory of the accident.  Grown into a beauty, she is adored by the boys at school, but resented by the girls.  Rachel learns of race-distinctions for the first time, and what it means to be both black, and white.

The story proceeds on an even keel as the mystery unfolds; there is little climax to the story and a disappointing ending.