HELLO, I MUST BE GOING

Balanced perfectly between funny and sad, this poignant novel is about the stubbornness of love.

It is the early 1980s, and tomboy Frankie Hawthorne's world is turned upside down when her beloved father - a Vietnam amputee who masks his depression with showy humor - commits suicide. Left behind along with Frankie are her mother, Gerrie, a waitress; and Frankie's younger brother, Teddy. In response, Frankie decides to shut herself off, resisting the overly ebullient school psychologist, comforting herself by drawing cartoons. Gerri, now chain-smoking and addicted to television, wears an imaginary charm bracelet of disappointments. The once-adorable Teddy runs wild and finds increasing amounts of trouble. Finally, with some unlikely help, Frankie understands that it is possible to grow beyond grief. Christie Hodgen, a Ph.D. student at the University of Missouri, lives in Columbia, Missouri.