In “When the Road Ends” by Jean Thesman, Mary Jack is a twelve-year-old who has spent her entire life in the foster care system. Passed around from home to home, she’s never had any constancy in her life until now, having been placed with Father Matt and his wife. Father Matt is a well-meaning man of the cloth – his heart’s in the right place, but he doesn’t often have the courage to follow through. His wife is an unkind, unfeeling woman who complains endlessly about all she has to endure, and Mark Jack finds herself taking up a lot of the slack to keep the household running.
Also living with Father Matt is Jane, a small girl who has been severely physically abused. She has whip and burn marks all over her back, and does not speak. Any emotional upset causes her to wet herself and to hide, and Mary Jack becomes something of a surrogate mother to her.
When fourteen-year-old Adam comes to stay, his presence disturbs Mary Jack’s campaign to not make any waves. He’s a wave maker, in spades. And when Father Matt’s sister, Cecile, has a stroke which takes her ability to care for herself and moves in as well, Father Matt’s wife puts her foot down and kicks them all out.
Father Matt hires a caretaker and sends Cecile, Mary Jack, Adam and Jane out into a rustic community to stay in a cabin that has been in the family for generations. The plan is for the caretaker to spend the summer with them, seeing to their needs, and cooking for them. But the caretaker runs off, stealing all the money she’s been given and leaves them on their own.
Refusing to give up, the four band together, determined that they will take care of themselves for the entire summer. Mary Jack assumes the leadership role, Cecile works hard to regain her ability to speak and to write, and Adam does the heavier chores. They all help care for Jane, and things are going well until prying neighbors threaten to call an end to their freedom.
I really liked this book. As heart-rending as the situations were, these four characters showed depth and integrity as they tried to overcome the hand life dealt them, and the loyalty they showed to one another was inspirational. Mark this one down for your young adult summer reading – and adults will like it, too.
(This book was published in 1992 by Houghton Mifflin.)
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