A Friend at Midnight
Caroline B. Cooney
WaterBrook Press, 2008, 183 pp., $8.99
www.waterbrookpress.com
A savior redeems someone then gets rejected by the person. Sound familiar? Except in this case, the one who saves the day is 15-year-old Lily, who rescues her younger brother after being abandoned at an airport by their father.
Sworn to secrecy by 8-year-old Michael, Lily is accused of undermining their already-fragile family dynamic. To make matters worse for Lily, Michael downplays the incident and lies about it, casting a dark shadow over Lily’s family’s perception of her.
A Friend at Midnight chronicles Lily’s struggles that result in her disgust with her estranged father, Michael’s betrayal, her self-absorbed older sister and (most of all) her anger at and disappointment with God.
Cooney does a great job engaging the reader’s emotions, especially through Lily and Michael. She pens an accurate portrayal of a teenage girl’s struggles with God as she grapples with life.
