Newbery Medal–winning author Paula Fox's gripping and sensitive portrayal of a teenage girl who discovers her father is not the man she thought he was. Catherine Ames's father, Harry, has always been a mystery. Her parents divorced when she was three, and she has spent most of her life in a Montreal boarding school. When Harry suggests a month-long stay with him at his summer cabin in Nova Scotia, Catherine is thrilled. Finally she'll have the kind of relationship with her father that other girls at school have with theirs. But the bright summer quickly darkens. Harry drinks-a lot. The more Catherine witnesses his drinking, the more she begins to hate him. Only, Catherine can't help but love him too. A travel writer with a poet's tongue, Harry is clever and exciting, and tells wonderful stories-until he drinks again, and the playful father that takes her on picnics becomes someone dark and frightening. How can the man she grew up wishing to be close to seem so far away? And how can Catherine bring him back to her? A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, The Moonlight Man is a lyrical and emotional account of love, acceptance, and the difficult lessons of growing up.
"There's been little in young adult fiction with this kind of plain intensity. . . . Miss Fox writes with wit and candor about painful change and growth. Her language is exquisitely controlled, reaching for meaning in the patterns and pauses of ordinary conversation, often in words of one syllable."
The New York Times Book Review
"A cause for celebration . . . Fox's subtle use of language and unique storytelling gifts create a world so complete and so rich that the reader hates to leave it. At one point, Catherine reflects that her father 'seemed about to lead her into a dance to music she had never heard.' This story, too, is music as we only rarely hear it."
