Here are recommendations for books for those young adult readers (or young-at-heart readers) who might be on your gift list.

The River King
By Alice Hoffman

This is the first work by Alice Hoffman that I have read, and I liked it so much that I’m going to explore more of the many novels she has published. I enjoyed this coming-of-age/romance/supernatural tale immensely. Everything about it—the plot, the characters, the skillful use of words to create a nearly other-worldly mood—appealed to me.

The story is set in the northeast United States near a small town, at an old boarding school mostly attended by wealthy teenagers from elsewhere. An old, simmering dislike of the school obtains in the town. This dislike increased when one of the town’s favorite daughters married the headmaster of the school and ended up committing suicide. Her story permeates the tale of a young teenager from the South who comes north to escape her small-town life, a brilliant but odd boy sent there by his father, a young photographer engaged to one of the teachers, and a police officer from the town who investigates a murder.

When the odd young man is found dead, floating in the river that flows by the school, the police officer senses that this was not an accident or suicide. But the town’s police chief discourages him from investigating for fear of losing some of the money wealthy patrons of the school have donated to the town. He, however, is not able to do that and ends up discovering some very ugly secrets at the school.

The Tenth Circle
By Jodi Picoult

If you have ever read or studied Dante’s Inferno, you’ll be interested in how Picoult weaves the story of the circles of hell into her novel about a family struggling with issues of infidelity and rape.

Daniel Stone is a cartoonist who draws superheroes, and Picoult incorporates his drawings into the text of the novel, illustrating (literally and figuratively) Stone’s family struggles. Stone’s daughter Trixie is a high school sophomore whose senior boyfriend, the star quarterback, has broken up with her. She has a difficult time understanding that it is over. Her plan to regain his affection backfires dreadfully, and thus begins a horrible descent for her and her family.

Once more Picoult draws her characters and their situations believably as they come to grips with the consequences of their actions. I enjoy the psychology in the interactions of the family members: the father who experienced tragedy during his childhood in Alaska; the college professor mother, an expert on Dante, who has been having an affair with a student; and Trixie, the daughter who accuses her ex-boyfriend of rape and faces disbelief from her friends and the community. Healing through forgiveness and understanding is the most important theme of the novel, one that Picoult has used before.

This is not an easy book to read—it is painful and raw in places—but I could hardly pry myself away until I finished it.

Blessings
By Anna Quindlen

This is a pleasant coming-of-age novel—but, interestingly, it is not only the story of a young man named Skip Cuddy, who comes to know himself, but also that of an elderly woman named Lydia Blessing, who finally comes to realize what things in her life have been important.

The event that precipitates growth in both characters is a new baby girl left on the doorstep of the Blessing estate, where Skip is the resident groundskeeper. When Skip finds this baby girl, he decides he’s going to keep her. As a child, his mother died and his father left him with an aunt and uncle. He hasn’t felt that he truly has a family for a very long time and has had no direction in his life. However, the appearance of this tiny, dependent baby awakens his nurturing nature. He fears if his employer finds out about the baby she will fire him.

Much to his surprise, the old woman also falls in love with the baby girl, and the young man and old woman form an alliance to give her a wonderful life. Both Skip and Lydia begin to deal with issues from the past as they consider the future, and, even though the ending is not a happily-ever-after one, it is one that makes sense and feels right.