The Girls of No Return

by Erin Saldin

Overview

Cut meets Hatchet in this lacerating debut about girls, knives, and redemption.

The Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area stretches across two million acres in northern Idaho. In its heart sits the Alice Marshall School, where fifty teenage girls come to escape their histories and themselves. Lida Wallace has tried to negate herself in every way possible. At Alice Marshall, she meets Elsa Boone, a fierce native Idahoan; Jules, who seems too healthy to belong at the school; and Gia Longchamps, whose glamour entrances the entire camp. As the girls prepare for a wilderness trek, Lida is both thrilled and terrified to be chosen as Gia's friend. But everyone has their secrets--their "Things" they try to protect; and when those come out, the knives do as well. The Girls of No Return is a bold and powerful debut.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545392532
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	02/01/2012
Sold by:	Scholastic, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
Lexile:	770L (what's this?)
File size:	790 KB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Erin Saldin went on her first backpacking trip in northern Idaho at age fourteen. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times and the Best New American Voices series, as well as multiple literary magazines. She lives in Missoula, Montana.

Read an Excerpt

From The Girls of No Return

She took out the underwear, the socks, the rain poncho, the flashlight. She took out first one hiking boot, and then the other. She took out the sock that I had stuffed in the second boot, and pulled out the knife. A long, silent minute passed.

"We understand that you may have come here with old ways of being, old patterns of behavior, old habits."

Beverly tapped the knife with her index finger without looking down at it.

"Those behaviors that might endanger yourself or others are cause for immediate expulsion."

She held the knife in front of her face and stared at me until I met her gaze. It was unflinching. I nodded.

Beverly placed the knife next to her on the chair and repacked my bag. Then she stood up and held out her hand. "Welcome to Alice Marshall," she said.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 8 Up—Anger over her mother's abandonment when she was small leads 16-year-old Lida to resent her father and stepmother and to abuse herself by cutting. Her harmful behavior lands her in the Alice Marshall School for troubled girls, deep in the Idaho wilderness. After a shaky start, Lida gradually befriends hard-edged Boone, who takes her on forbidden hikes to a forest lookout station where 25-year-old Ben gives the girls alcohol but otherwise behaves as a good friend. When drop-dead-gorgeous Gia arrives at the school, she and Boone hate one another at first sight, an animosity fueled by Lida, who is juggling a friendship with each of them. Once Lida introduces Ben to Gia, despite promising not to, Gia pretends she's a teacher and begins romantic visits with him. When Boone finds out, the negative intensity with Gia escalates, until a terrible altercation during a camping trip sends things over the edge. Lida's story is disclosed in first person, starting with an "epilogue," interspersing additional "epilogues" throughout, and finishing with a "prologue"—an unusual yet effective plot construction to keep readers guessing. However, although the girls' interactions are meant to be intriguing, Gia is manipulative, sketchy, and unlikable while Bo one is unpredictable and sometimes nasty. It's difficult to believe that Lida wants a friendship with either of them. Also, Lida never really gets beyond her wimpy attitudes in relationships even though she meets the school's outdoor challenges, which are geared toward making her a stronger person. Plus, unrealistically, the school claims to be strict about alcohol and cigarettes, yet there are no real repercussions for the regular indulgences that occur. The writing style, edginess, and buildup to the ultimate disclosure will attract teens who enjoyed A.S. King's Please Ignore Vera Deitz (Knopf, 2010), minus the growth from invisible to invincible.—Diane P. Tuccillo, Poudre River Public Library District, Fort Collins, CO

School Library Journal

In a narrative told through extended flashbacks that alternate with "epilogue" sections, secretive Lida reflects on the time she spent as a troubled 16-year-old at the Alice Marshall School for Girls, tucked deep in the Idaho wilderness. Each of the girls at Alice Marshall has a "Thing," something from her past that brought her there. Lida, hostile toward her father and stepmother and still mourning her absent mother, isn't interested in sharing, but little by little, she reveals the reasons behind her destructive behavior. Debut author Saldin carefully builds suspense through the complex relationships that Lida forms with the other girls, particularly fierce, dangerous Boone, who has been abandoned by all of the people in her life and torments the other girls, and enigmatic Gia, who enchants and manipulates Lida. Saldin brings a polished descriptive style to the expansive wilderness setting, which subtly mirrors the shadowed layers of each girl's consciousness. Those expecting a violent confrontation won't be disappointed; through it, Lida learns the meaning of real friendship and forgiveness. Ages 14–up. Agent: Denise Shannon Literary Agency. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"This debut is richly rewarding and will linger for its subtle examination of human behavior and emotions-love, trust, guilt and forgiveness. A smashing debut." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review"Secrets and lies, betrayal and trust, friends and enemies-there are weighty themes at the heart of this bold, compelling debut novel... So much more than a typical problem novel, this psychological mind-bender is raw, gripping, and deftly rolled out by a writer-to-watch." — Booklist, starred review"[A] smart, absorbing story about damaged girls realizing how hard it is to connect with other people when you don't trust anyone." — New York Times Book Review"Saldin presents the complex, layered terrain of relationships that develop among teens who share cabins and cigarettes and bathhouse duty but often know only the bare minimum about one another's former lives.... The remote setting enhances the palpable sense of danger; some of the girls fear bears or mountain lions, but, really, the scariest thing they could confront in those woods is one another. And themselves." — Horn Book"This debut novel is compelling.... Believable situations, conversations, and setting make this novel a must-read for not only the story, but the truths. Teens will not be able to put this one down." — Library Media Connection

From the Publisher

Lonely, angry and acting out, Lida is sent by her father and stepmother to a school for problem girls in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area. Trying to keep a low profile, Lida becomes an observer. While the girls are there for different reasons, cabinmate Boone is more frighteningly tough than most. Lida gradually engages with the wilderness and both Boone and Gia, a charismatic new girl, for whom her attraction is romantic but not sexual. When Boone takes Lida hiking to a nearby fire lookout to meet Ben, a friendly supplier of booze, Lida knows she has gained Boone's trust--but Gia's intrusion and manipulations roil the plot. It all explodes on a solo overnight camping trip, and the choices each girl makes set up a violent confrontation, hinted at in the short "Epilogue" sections that are interspersed in italic type. Not everyone is distinct; the "I-bankers," or daughters of wealthy investment bankers, are particularly interchangeable. But teen and adult characters that matter are complex and intriguing. Saldin keeps readers intrigued by both withholding information and sharing Lida's retrospective thoughts without ever seeming manipulative. This debut is richly rewarding and will linger for its subtle examination of human behavior and emotions--love, trust, guilt and forgiveness. A smashing debut. (Fiction. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews