This is a story of loneliness, of a family ostracized because of the father's occupation, and always moving so that even if someone were prepared to befriend the children, there is never time. Loretta has a letter exchange with Jay Smith, a boy who is kind to her and Teddy in Fort Nelson, but even that has to be on the sly because Jay's father is the one who torched Bean Trap's gambling establishment in Fort Nelson. The interconnections strain credulity somewhat, but the characters come through with remarkable depth. Even Bean-Trap is not the complete villain - he is good to the children after their mother dies, looks after them and plans for their future "just in case", and does not ever seem to think of abandoning them, even though it would obviously have been easier for him to move about alone. And Loretta is a spunky 14-year-old, taking care of her brother, housekeeping as best she can under whatever circumstances she finds herself, and standing up for herself, her brother, and even her father as required.

      The historical period is the 1940s, just after the Americans have entered the war. The Alcan highway, made necessary by the threat of attack from Japan, is pushing through the wilderness, bush pilots are up, flying by the seat of their pants, but the main occupations are still the frontier ones of trapping and mining. It is an interesting period, and Matheson makes it come to life both in this book and in the parallel one, Flying Ghosts (Stoddart, 1993) which is Jay's story. Youngsters might well get hooked on this one and go on to the other - a useful spinoff.

      The accompanying teachers' guide, which come free with the purchase of a classroom set of 20 novels, contains some suggestions how this book could be used to enliven other aspects of the curriculum while serving as a novel study in English Language Arts. In the latter context, I could wish that the editor had removed a clump of glaring uses of "I" as object of a preposition, but that is a quibble about a book which is informative in the context of being an exciting read.

Highly recommended.