John Peters (Booklist, Jan. 1, 2001 (Vol. 97, No. 9))
In these 12 new stories, young people approach or step over the threshold of adulthood, driven by soul-deep infatuation, a glimpse of girls in underwear, failures of parents or older sibs, beginning a new life in America, or ending one in a Liverpool abortion clinic. Some ominous or horrifying experiences (a teenager discovers bulimia, a girl is physically tortured by peers for dating a "proddy") alternate with profound or triumphant discoveries (a girl turns lemons to lemonade after losing her hair to chemotherapy). Aside from Chris Lynch and Maeve Binchy, the authors here may be new even to well-read American teens, but brief biographical notes provide some background as well as leads to other titles. As editor Snell points out, Ireland is moving away from it's violence-ridden, economically depressed past, so readers whose vision of the country has been shaped by immigration and potato-famine stories may be surprised by how often the teenagers and the concerns in these selections seem familiar.