Last Dance on Holladay Street

I'd recently read Elisa Carbone's wonderful _Storm Warriors_, set on North Carolina's Outer Banks, and found _Last Dance_ at the library. It's just as meticulously researched and carefully crafted as _Storm Warriors_, not to mention just as much of a good read. Even though I'm a 44-year-old woman, I found myself admiring 13-year-old Eva and thinking what a good mentor she is. To say she doesn't have an easy time of things is an understatement. But Eva is wise on many levels and she grows wiser by the end of this book. She not only helps herself, but she also brings others up along with her. She will be an inspiration to young readers. Carbone's book is set in the Wild West, and deals with some harsh truths. But parents and/or librarians shouldn't be put off by this: the material is handled extremely sensitively. There is no attempt to capitalize on violence or salaciousness. The brothel setting, instead of being titillating, encourages the reader to consider why these women had ended up in such a situation, either through their own choice or through lack of choice. Does Eva want this sort of life for herself? Does she want to see her mother or half-sister continue in such a condition? Marcus Aurelius, one of my favourite philosophers, said you needed to look things in the face and know them for what they are. That's what this book does, and it does it in an historically accurate and inspiring way.

There are hordes of novels written about the Wild West. But amid the thousands of dime novels and nature-romance tales, very few have been written about adolescents, and even fewer have been written about FEMALE adolescents. Carbone's novel is one of a kind, narrating the story of 13-year-old Eva Wilkins. In this novel, one can find the realism missing from the almost fantastic tradition of Western fiction. Carbone's novel is full of harsh realities. The heroine Eva takes them blow by blow. When her adoptive parents die on the farm, she is suddenly alone, and must fend for her in Denver where she is preyed on by the prostitution system and later preyed on by a mountain lion. Surely, life in the West is a struggle for the freedom and audacity. Although this book tells of reality of the West, it does not loose the epic, tall-tale quality that makes Westerns so alluring. Eva never ceases to be amazed by her surroundings and stumbles form one adventure to another. Although life is hard for the mixed-raced female Eva, like all heroines, beats the system, never loosing focus. Certainly, in THE LAST DANCE ON HOLLADAY STREET, Carbone combines historical realism with Western adventure to present a new look at the West that all adolescents are sure to enjoy.