Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way 'girls who write their pain on their bodies' scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a 'semifamous' local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her-who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves-Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she 'like-likes' but who had pined for Ellis instead. Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. YA)Īfter surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself. Through this deeply personal story, Napoli paints a magnificent and mournful portrait of the Italian Renaissance, both tragic and triumphant. Political strife and family deaths repeatedly postpone Betta’s husband-seeking party, but although her engagement with Giuliano is secret, she never dreams the truth-that her father’s betrothed her elsewhere. After his father’s death, Giuliano’s older brother Piero claims the republic and runs it into the ground, resulting in their exile. In this city bursting with art and artists-Leonardo, Botticelli, a young Michelangelo-Betta and Giuliano connect instantly.

On a visit to Florence, family acquaintance Leonardo da Vinci introduces her to Giuliano de’ Medici, the youngest son of Florence’s ruling family. Because she’s an aristocrat, she must betroth herself to a nobleman, but she hopes desperately for someone young and passionate rather than an old widower. She contentedly harvests olives and helps run the family’s silkworm business. Elisabetta savors her country home with its verdant gardens. The lushly detailed life of a girl who grows up to pose for the Mona Lisa.

The smile book donna jo napoli