A private face
A Private Face is a heartfelt story about a rebellious teenager and caring mother who never gives up hope of getting her son to change his cheeky attitude and stop making bad decisions that get him in trouble both at school and at home.
Kate’s life has been turned upside down. She has recently separated from her husband, Simon, and their 16-year-old son, James, is testing the limits of his patience with his rebellious behavior. When Kate and Simon attend a parent-teacher conference at James’ high school, they discover that James has skipped classes and hasn’t turned in his homework. James ignores it like it’s no big deal to his parents’ dismay. Kate isn’t sure how to get James to change his behavior, especially since his eighteen-year-old daughter, Isabel, never gave him any trouble growing up. Will James straighten out if she and Simon get back together? Does she even want to do it?
As the days go by, James’ unacceptable behavior continues to escalate in the face of every technical discipline Kate tries. Bad language, bad language, drinking, smoking marijuana, and naughty jokes are common in James’ life. Kate is desperate to get him out of his sick downward spiral. Can he get James to change his rude behavior before it’s too late and his outlandish demeanor affects him for the rest of his life?
Kate’s memories of advice from her grandmother and nuns at the Catholic school she attended along with her friends, her part-time nursing job, and psychic readings are valuable mechanisms to help her face all the challenges in her life. Although Kate no longer follows the Catholic faith diligently, she feels guilty about going to psychics for readings. Yet at the same time she gains valuable insight into James’ rebellious nature and is offered encouragement that the caring and respectful boy she once knew is not lost forever.
Annie Henry has written an inspiring story that will appeal to mothers in today’s society who sometimes don’t know how to counter the negative effects that social media can have on young teenagers and their perception of acceptable behaviors. An underlying theme in the book is how people have clearly different private and public characters and how it affects the decisions that people make in their lives and how characters can sometimes unexpectedly merge in times of high stress. Although most of the story is told from Kate’s point of view, readers are given a teenage Isabel’s perspective on how the family is affected by James’s insolence.