The Girl With Borrowed Wings

Starred review from June 11, 2012
Rossetti was a teenager when she wrote this novel, and her connection to the stifling constraints, torn emotions, and dazzling first tastes of freedom and power that are synonymous with coming-of-age make this first novel shine. Of Thai descent, 17-year-old Frenenqer Paje has grown up under the thumb of her coldly overbearing father; they currently live in a desert oasis in the Middle East where Frenenqer attends a private school for expatriates. When she disobeys her father by rescuing a mistreated cat, her life changes dramatically. The cat is actually a shape-shifting "Free person" named Sangris who, without any rules to bind him, is Frenenqer's polar opposite. By night, he flies Frenenqer around the world to places both real and magical, slowly chipping away at the defenses she has built up to withstand her father's callous cruelty. Despite Frenenqer's apparent lack of agency, she is actually strong, willful, passionate, and quite funny, and watching her come into her own is thrilling. A breath of fresh air. Ages 12âup. Agent: Danielle Chiotti, Upstart Crow Literary.

Starred review from June 15, 2012
Her name--Frenenqer--means "restraint" in "some language or other," and she is the only child--creation, really--of a man for whom affection is unspeakable: Pfft. Expatriates, Frenenqer and her parents have lived many places but called none of them home. The teen's world now is comprised of three boxes: her family's apartment, her school and the car that takes her from one to the other within the dusty, isolated oasis. When, much to her father's displeasure, Frenenqer rescues a large cat she finds caged in the souk, she liberates a "Free person," a shape-shifting being "born without rules." His are the wings she "borrows," when he nightly takes her in his arms and flies her around the world and into the realms of the Free people. With Sangris, Frenenqer feels free for the first time in her life--but can freedom accommodate love? Rossetti's lush language is highly metaphorical and often sensuous, befitting the unfurling of Frenenqer's stunted soul: "And when I came back up the air was still fresh and calm-smelling, ...and the palm trees rustled in faint applause." Her earthy, often funny exchanges with Sangris represent freedom for both Frenenqer and readers from her cold, controlling father, whose "words have a way of shaping the world around him." Infused with an urgent hope, this glimmering love story exhilarates and refreshes. (Magical realism. 12 & up)

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December 1, 2012

Gr 7 Up-Rigidly controlled by her father and striving desperately to be the perfect daughter he envisions, Frenenqer Paje, 17, moves through her overprotected life in a state of numb obedience and boredom. The stifling culture and heat of the desert oasis where she lives makes any rebellious behavior futile, but her spirit is bigger than she realizes. When she disobeys her father and rescues an abused cat from an Animal Souk, she changes her life. No ordinary feline, Sangris is a Free person, a shape-shifter not bound by rules. Though the idea of it nearly paralyzes her with fear, Frenenqer can't resist Sangris's offer to take her somewhere-anywhere-and the two set off to visit the places where they have lived throughout their nomadic lives. Sangris, who can grow wings at a whim, transforms himself into a gargoyle at first, because Frenenqer is so timid about touching a member of the opposite sex. But as their friendship grows, she is more and more attracted to the handsome, nearly human form he assumes around her. Sangris realizes that complete freedom can be lonely, and that he wants more than camaraderie. When he presses the issue, Frenenqer ends their friendship. With the guidance of a remarkable friend, she hits upon a clever solution to soften her father's rules. And once her issues with him begin to resolve, she finds that she can reach out to Sangris as more than a friend. Told in lush, beautiful language that explores the minutiae of expression and feeling of two lost souls, this novel will resonate with readers experiencing the first flush of desire and the confusion it brings.-Caroline Tesauro, Radford Public Library, VA

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 15, 2012
Grades 7-12 *Starred Review* Frenenqera name meaning restraintwas born inside her father's imagination and sculpted into his vision of the perfect daughter. She has felt his invisible finger between her shoulder blades her whole life, forcing her meek, obedient, and modest actions. To compound the oppression, Frenenqer lives in a blazingly hot oasis in a Middle Eastern desert, marked by dirty white buildings, an unforgiving landscape, and no place to go, save to school and back home again. In an act of defiance, Frenenqer saves a black cat from certain death at the animal souk and brings him home. The cat is a shape-shifter, a Free person whom Frenenqer names Sangris. He has no constraints, no family, no rules to follow. Sangris, often taking the form of a boy, sprouts wings, and Frenenqer flies with him at night to places both real and magical. It's this juxtaposition of subjugation and freedom that propels Rossetti's spellbinding debut, as a girl owned by her father begins to experience life outside of narrowly defined spaces. With taut, lush writing ( the wind shut my eyes for me and rioted in my hair ), a stunningly imagined setting, and a premise that's unique among the stacks of paranormal romances, this onewritten when Rossetti was a teenagerfeels like a breeze in the desert.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2013
Frenenqer rescues a cat that turns into a winged, shape-changing "Free person"--sometimes a cat but often a boy--who offers to fly her wherever she wants. Nightly, she and Sangris explore far-flung places and other worlds, making Frenenqer's stifling life with her repressive father bearable. In this Middle Eastern-set novel, Rossetti raises the bar for romantic fantasies with her wit, fresh imagination, and literary style.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2012
Frenenqer Paje has lived in ex-pat communities in many countries, but one thing stays constant: her repressive, controlling father. Wherever she is, she feels him steering her, and it's no different where they live now -- in a town in the desert, in the middle of the Middle East. Then Frenenqer rescues a cat that turns into a winged, shape-changing "Free person" -- sometimes a cat, but bewilderingly, often a boy -- who offers to fly her wherever she wants. "All the rules and boundaries and whatever," he explains, "aren't applicable to me." Nightly, Frenenqer and Sangris (as she names him) explore far-flung places and other worlds, making Frenenqer's stifling home life bearable -- until Sangris's feelings for her threaten the emotional walls she's constructed to survive her father's tyranny. This first novel is exceptional in its originality and in the luminous, funny, elegant quality of its writing. Rossetti moves from quirky, intelligent banter between teens to descriptions of sunshine, landscapes, and bodies, evoking a sharp, clear sensuality. Her subtle portrait of Frenenqer, whose psyche is wounded by and wedded to her father's authority, gives satisfying depth to a story already alight with the pleasures of place, language, and romance. Indeed, Rossetti raises the bar for current romantic fantasies with her wit, fresh imagination, and literary style. deirdre f. baker

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)