Girls on the Line, by Jennie Liu
A
powerful, dual-narrative coming-of-age story set in 2009 China.
Luli has just
turned sixteen and finally aged out of the orphanage where she's spent the last
eight years. Her friend Yun has promised to help her get work. Yun loves the
independence that her factory job brings her. For the first time in her life
she has her own money and can get the things she wants: nice clothes, a cell
phone...and Yong, her new boyfriend. There are rumors about Yong, though. Some
people say he's a bride trafficker: romancing young women only to kidnap them
and sell them off to bachelors in the countryside. Yun doesn't believe it. But
then she discovers she's pregnant the same day she gets fired from her job. If
she can't scrape together enough money to terminate the pregnancy, she'll face
a huge fine for having an unauthorized child. Luli wants to help her friend,
but she's worried about what Yong might do...especially when Yun disappears.
“Told in the first person from the two
girls' alternating points of view, readers will be drawn into their emotional
lives through sharing both their quiet, day-to-day routines and the moments of
high drama, all of which are direct results of policies that trapped ordinary
citizens and forced them into making terrible decisions. An affecting and original thrill ride highlighting
the bond between two friends put in a horrible situation by actual Chinese
government policies."--Kirkus Reviews
"Liu shifts narration creatively
along plot points and uses a matter-of-fact tone to immerse readers in the
unfolding action. The characters are realistic products of their
experiences--they are flawed, accessible, and multidimensional. This novel explores a moment of contemporary history and
a culture that is underrepresented in YA realistic fiction."--starred,
School Library Journal
