THE YONAHLOSSEE RIDING CAMP FOR GIRLS / Anton Disclafani / 388 pages

In her début novel, Disclafani has the main character, Thea Atwell, relate the story of how at age 15 she is sent away from home to a girls boarding school in the Blue Ridge Mountains of South Carolina. The reader doesn't know why Thea's been sent away, only that her twin brother, Sam, refuses to speak to her, she hasn't heard from her aunt, uncle or cousin Georgie for quite sometime, and her once loving parents have become distant.

The story takes place during the depression with the twins having been raised in practical isolation by their wealthy parents on a large farm in Florida. Thea has never been away from home and the mystery behind her exile is revealed slowly as she learns to deal with the other girls at camp and accept that she may not be retuning home as soon as she thinks.

THE YONAHLOSSEE RIDING CAMP FOR GIRLS should appeal to readers who enjoy coming-of-age stories and literary fiction.