Looking for Home

Reader reviewed by bookworm9

Seventeen-year-old Daphne is pregnant from a casual relationship, and cant face having an abortion. Rather than confront her abusive father with her problem, she runs away and ends up living in a YWCA and waitressing until her baby is born, when she plans to give it up for adoption. At the restaurant where she works, she makes friends with the owner, T. Peter, an eccentric doctor turned new restaurateur, and the cook, Junior Lee, an exuberant college student. Later, she also befriends Mattie, a quiet older artist who eventually invites Daphne into her home. Finally, Daphne has found a family . . . but what will happen after the baby is born?

Although this book is a good fifteen-years-old, and perhaps not the most realistic teen pregnancy story ever told, its thoroughly enjoyable characters made it work. No one can write about intergenerational friendships like Ferris, and the camaraderie between Daphne and her three protectors is great. The ending is slightly predictable, but after falling in love with the characters, they deserve this happy conclusion, and it doesnt seem too hokey.