Teen Review:The Noah Confessions

The Noah Confessions
By Barbara Hall
Random House, 2007

Reviewed by Beth Curtis, 13
Pennsylvania

The Noah Confessions is the captivating story of Lynne, whose mother died in a car crash when Lynne was eight. As Lynne grows older, she places her mother on a pedestal of perfection. She remembers her as a flawless person, incapable of sin.

On her sixteenth birthday, Lynne's dad gives her an abnormal gift. Instead of the car Lynne was expecting, she receives a cheap-looking little bracelet, deformed with age and adorned with little birds. The bracelet belonged to Lynne's mother and has a sinister history. After some frustrations on Lynne's part, her father gives her a thick notebook, filled with a mysterious story, and written by her mother. This notebook is an account of a dangerous story, involving Lynne's mother -- and a crime.

As the story unfolds, Lynne discovers that her mother's story is much more captivating than she realized, and readers are faced with Lynne's search for her own story. I wholeheartedly recommend this story to anybody who likes drama. Hall writes in an intriguing and detailed style, vividly depicting the emotions and drama involved in the story. Although the plot is rather complicated at first, Hall explains each twist very clearly. This was a great story, and the overall theme I discovered was that while nobody is perfect, we all have our own story -- and the greatest achievement in life is discovering it.