Double Take

Coming of age in a time of war...A thirty-five year old manuscript is found in an attic. Its author barely remembers it, this almost true story of eleven-year-old Rye Getchell growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during World War II. She begins to read.In 1943, Rye's world wavers. Her favorite uncle is in the navy; air-raid drills disrupt school; food, gas, and rubber are rationed. No family visits to New Hampshire, no new bicycle. A neighborhood boy shoots his knee to avoid military service. Worst of all, Rye turns twelve this year-the terrifying threshold of "Ladydom," more daunting than a German invasion.Rye struggles to find her place, in her family where her brothers have freedoms denied to her and among the "tribes" in her neighborhood with their diverse values and income. Her two closest friends make choices that baffle her; her father calls Bubby, her first crush, a coward.As the woman reads, she traces the lines between Rye's choices and her own, uncovering the hidden map of a life. Read more