This book will grab your heart. It grabbed mine, almost against my will. Julie, the sixteen-year-old narrator, and her twin brother Jacob, are the survivors of a horrendous home situation. As the story gradually unfolds, we find out bit by bit just how terrible it was, for example:

"It would almost be better if we were still with Dad," Jacob whispered. "At least then nothing was expected from us."

" Six months ago Dad had put Jacob in the emergency room, almost ending my brother's life. Yes, Dad used Jacob as a punching bag, thought of me as a surrogate wife, but there had been lulls when he stopped drinking and became almost tolerable. And in a strange way I agreed with Jacob. At least with Dad we knew where we stood."

Julie's strength of character, and her reaction to adversity, reminded me of Bryce Courtenay's 'The Power of One'. The way the two youngsters are affected by abuse is absolutely lifelike. As a psychologist, and the survivor of trauma myself, I have recognized both Julie's resultant fighting spirit and the determination not to be bowed, and Jacob's inner defeat, with the outer signals of that defeat. And, as in real life, the predators zero in on the victim of previous abuse.

Julie and Jacob have a secret resource: they can leave their bodies and fly, though they don't know that this is called astral travel. They certainly need the temporary escape this provides as they go from one betrayal to another.

Despite their many misfortunes, this is not a heavy book. Teenagers will be carried along by Julie's resilience, and the way the author takes us into her inner world.