Mother-Daughter Book Review: "Torched" by April Henry

Editors Note: Cindy Hudson is the author of Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs” (Seal Press, October 2009). She is the founder of two long-running mother-daughter book clubs, and she lives in Portland with her husband and two daughters. Visit her online at the Mother Daughter Book Club website.  This review is one in a twice-monthly series of “Mother-Daughter Book Review” posts contributed by Ms. Hudson.

Torched (Putnam Juvenile)

By April Henry

Ellie is used to her parents having groups of friends over to smoke marijuana and get stoned. She often feels more like the parent than the child, cooking for the people who drop in and cleaning up when they leave. Otherwise she spends her time trying to do well in school. But when the FBI raids her home and arrests her parents for growing marijuana in their basement, she can’t go back to living life as she knew it.

The FBI most wants to find out about the activities of the Mother Earth Defenders, (MED) a radical environmental group that her parents were meeting with. The FBI will let her parents go, but only if she agrees to infiltrate MED and pass along information about any violent actions the group plans to take. Against her wishes, Ellie agrees to help.

But as she gets more involved with the group, and she begins to fall for Coyote, one of its members, she begins to see why they are so passionate about their cause. Torn between wanting to help her parents, her growing love for Coyote and her concern for the environment, Ellie must walk a fine line and lie to everyone she cares about. How can she see it through without losing everyone she cares about as well?

April Henry is a Portland author, and at times Torched feels so real it seems as though the story could have been lifted from the pages of a story in The Oregonian.

Torched will keep you turning pages as you follow Ellie from fire-bombing a Hummer dealership, to tree sitting and more. Ellie’s conflicted conscience brings up great things to talk about in a mother-daughter book club. Among other things it asks the reader to ask: How far would you go to support a cause you thought was vitally important? What would you do if you could help someone you loved, even if it was dangerous? While you may expect to have a happily-ever-after ending, Henry keeps you guessing at the outcome right to the last page.

Image credit Powell’s Books.