Without Looking Back

Reviews / Votes

The constant danger of discovery and the family's haphazard hurried escapes create a suspense filled atmosphere. Irish Times 20090523 Tabitha Suzuma has drawn a realistic picture of adversarial parents who forget that children have lives of their own. This book also shows how legal and social decisions that profoundly affect a child's life can still be made, as Louis resentfully discovers, without the child's involvement, even when they are old enough to be consulted. She highlights the children's courage as they try to make the best of things and shows their generosity in forgiving the people they love for the hurt they cause. Young readers will strongly identify with Max, Louis and Millie, and cheer as the children slowly come to an understanding of who they are and what they want from life, a hard won understanding that forms the choices they eventually get to make about their own futures. As a bonus, this beautifully written book sweeps you forward on plain and lovely prose until, far too soon, you have somehow reached the end. Armadillo Magazine 20090611 As this absorbing and exciting story unfolds the reader will find the book quite impossible to put down. Tabitha Suzuma has the knack of handling serious social and family problems with a light touch which make her books very accessible. This title could well encourage much thoughtful discussion. -- Wendy Worley The School Librarian 20090901 As this absorbing and exciting story unfolds the reader will find the book quite impossible to put down. Tabitha Suzuma has the knack of handling serious social and family problems with a light touch which make her books very accessible. This title could well encourage much thoughtful discussion. The School Librarian 20091001 With so many children caught up in bitter divorces and facing the consequences of life-changing decisions over which they have little or no control, this book will find a resonance far beyond the compelling story of a family on the run. Carousel 20091001