Come in from the Cold

by Marsha Qualey

Book Overview

"I want yesterday." That's all seventeen-year-old Maud can say when she gets the news about her sister: Lucy's dead, killed in a bomb blast. Without even a body to bury, Maud is left with only questions: How? Why? Maud's search for answers leads her down the same path her sister took. But all she finds are empty words and more questions. Jeff struggles down a separate but parallel path. His brother, a Marine, has been called up to Vietnam. To the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0547014392
• ISBN13: 9780547014395
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 14 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 9 to 12

Customer Reviews

excellent juvenile reading

Good read for teens and 20-somethings who wonder what resistance to the Vietnam conflict was about.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

Maud and Jeff are two teenagers, thrown together by protesting the Vietnam war. They feel a special connection over both having lost a sibling because of the war -- Maud's sister, Lucy, in an explosion of a science lab at the University of Minnesota, and Jeff's brother in Vietnam. These events cause them to forge a bond and lead them to a commune where they try to come to terms with their losses and the war around them. Strong, a little controversial, and wholly authentic, COME IN FROM THE COLD candidly captures life in America circa 1969 -- all of the tension, apprehension, hope, and love. Ms. Qualey has crafted a read that is not only inspiring but also historically educational. It's so entertaining, though, you won't even realize it. The novel accurately mirrors all of the passion, urgency, and even violence of the times. Reviewed by: The Compulsive Reader

A moving story of family, love, and war

Come in from the Cold vividly portrays the turmoil of life in the 1960s, during the Vietnam War. Teenagers are fascinated by the war, draft dodgers, and protesters, but there's not much good fiction for them. Come in from the Cold is excellent. Another good YA novel about the war, from a different perspective, is Ellen Emerson White's The Road Home.