《穿过云朵的少女》

    It takes sensitivity* and compassion* to know just how much bad news young people can handle.

    Author Gudrun Pausewang has the gift of showing the right amount of reality in a story that is basically about courage and survival. Janna, 14, is the victim* of nuclear fallout* from Grafenrheinfeld, the plant near her home in Germany.

    When the nuclear accident takes place, people are advised to stay inside and close all windows and doors.

    Janna, left alone to look after her little brother, must make decisions that will mean life or death for them both.

    When she and her brother Uli try to leave by bicycle and escape* the radioactive* cloud blowing in their direction, Uli is killed by a car. Janna continues her run and ends up in* a clinic* for fallout victims, where she loses her hair and watches children around her die.

    Finally, she discovers that her parents and youngest brother are also dead. When she is well enough, she goes to stay with her aunt Helga, who tries to carry on as if the accident never happened. After a friend’s suicide*, Janna runs away to her other aunt Almut, and helps work on anti-nuclear causes.

    When the ban is lifted on her village, she returns home to tell her grandparents what has happened.

    Hard truths about the effects of fallout make this book gripping*. Its message cannot be mistaken. The characters are also believable. Janna is a strong young woman readers will feel sorry for, like and admire.

    Showing how it feels to cope with disaster*, bereavement*, illness and being different, this is a realistic book making a powerful, emotional* read. The German Science Fiction Prize winner of year 1988, the novel has been translated into English and Chinese. Many versions are available at amazon.com and dangdang.com.(SD-Agencies)