Monday's Pick!

The Time it Takes to Fall by Margaret Lazarus Dean is a classic coming of age novel, but its backdrop in the heady days of the early space shuttle programme makes it unique. The story is told by Delores Gray whose father is a NASA technician. She is keenly intelligent and wants to be an astronaut like Judith Resnick; yet she is drawn to an unpopular boy who, although his father is a NASA supervisor, is more concerned with a colony of pelicans, endangered with every shuttle launch.
In this part of Florida, the values of the American family are closely tied to the successes and failures of the shuttle. When the Challenger explodes on takeoff, in January 1986, it has a disastrous effect on the characters. This is a beautifully written first novel that manages to build suspense even when you know how it has to end.