Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Lochan is an unwanted child, his mother married her father after she fell pregnant and had four more children to please his father before he abandoned them and left for America to have a new family.  As she didn't want her family Lochan's mother takes no responsiblity for them, acting as if they don't exist, spending her time money on clothes to impress her latest boyfriend rather than on food and clothes for her children.  17 year old Lochan is highly intelligent and deeply introverted, opening up only to his beautiful sister Maya, 13 months younger than him, his brothers Kit, an angry mosher rapidly getting in with the wrong crowd, 8 year old Tiffin, a complete tyke with genius for football and the baby, 5 year old Willa, an angelic faced cherub with a talent for art and a quiet goodness.  Out of this horror of neglect and emotional abuse comes love as Lochan and Maya quietly and desperately parent their younger siblings.  Suzuma deliniates each character perfectly and this is one of the few books lately I have actively cried while reading, so very very sad.

Salem Falls by Jodie Picoult

I've read most of Picoult's books and like the rest of them Salm Falls is excellently written, tightly plotted and heartbreaking. It challenges the assumptions even I hold that men who work with and are able to connect with and inspire young girls are suspect, a sad indictment on how the predators that there are rob us of our innocence. Picoult's use of subtle clues meant I saw the final twist coming but it wasn't disappointing, more an affirmation that I had read something hidden correctly. I read it in a day and enjoyed it greatly.