Heather Lloyd's My Name is Venus Black follows the titular character Venus through a most difficult and traumatic experience. Accused of a cold-blooded crime at the extraordinarily tender age of thirteen, Venus is separated from her autistic younger brother Leo and sent to a juvenile detention center far away. When Leo goes missing a few days later, Venus is frantic to get out and look for him. Abandoned by her mother who has put all the blame for everything on her daughter's shoulders, Venus has to put her head down and serve her time. When she is finally released, all she can think of doing is starting over with a new name to escape the media attention, and searching for Leo.
This book deals with some heavy topics, but it a very gentle way. The crime is described only enough to make the point, the circumstances leading up to the crime are also awful, but handled in such a way as to communicate the fact without dwelling on it. Even Leo's "mental disability" (this book is set in the early 1980s before common use of the term autism) is observed with love and understanding, even when the characters don't fully understand. I'm not sure I would give this book to a very young teen, but an older one should have no problem with the topics. The characters are wonderfully written and those who are meant to be likable are very likable. I found myself invested in them. Venus is strong and stubborn and a little hardened from her life, but we also see her soften when the time is right.
I really liked this book and I think you will, too.
*This Advanced Reader Copy was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for and honest review.*
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