I live in the neighborhood that Teresa and Bianca live in and have met girls like Bianca. As a young mother myself, this work really hit home. It's hard to understand the emotions and anxieties of a "child having a child," but Ms. Benedict truly knew how to do it and I praise her for that. Ms. Benedict captured the uncertainty, immaturity, and boldness of a "teen" so realistically. The best thing of all is that she let this child achieve maturity on her own after witnessing the destructive & selfish path she had created for herself and her family. She realized she had to think of her baby daughter -a very adult thing to do. So she made the best decision for her daughter. This book is a real tugger of heart-strings. I highly recommend.

This book was very good. S9ince there are many of our children are getting pregnant at a young age.

I absolutely loved Bad Angel. It was so gripping, and it really takes the reader inside Bianca's life. I really cared about what happened to her and her family.

I found this book to be very helpful as a victim of rape and torture. It also helped my husband understand what I was going through. It has practical suggestions to handle the aftermath of sexual assault

Benedict's thought-provoking book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the myths of rape that continue to pervade our culture. Benedict places media coverage of sex crimes into historical perspective and casts light on our understanding of sexual violence and gender relations. This is a smart, readable book.

The Sailor1s Wife is the story of an American girl who goes to live on a remote island in the Aegean with the parents of a Greek sailor who she met at a Florida supermarket. At first the girl, Joyce, and the sailor, Nikos, can hardly speak to one another except through the language of their mutual desire, but that is enough for them to fall deeply in love and to marry. Once he has brought her home to live with his peasant parents, Joyce soon learns enough Greek to understand that Nikos is not at all the man she though he was when she married him. Continuing his career in the merchant marine, he is hardly ever home, and when he does visit, he treats her as little more than a servant. Joyce is determined to stick out the marriage, however, because she has grown so attached to Nikos1s parents, and because she has come to feel that their almost Biblical existence is vastly more meaningful than her previous life in suburban Miami. Her resolve is sorely tested when she is rescued from an assault by a couple of Greek soldiers by Alex, a handsome, young, British intellectual visiting his Greek family. One of the great strengths of Helen Benedict1s novel is that she makes us understand the difficulty of Joyce1s dilemma by bringing island culture vividly to life, and by showing how all of the major characters were shaped by the ravages of war and dictatorship. This is a sexy, sun-filled, fast-moving coming of age story, but one that never presents Joyce1s personal struggles in isolation form the hard history that, in part, determines them. I read this book in one sitting, sometimes pacing the room to reduce the tension of suspense, other times sinking deep into my chair to savor the satisfactions of this deeply passionate and sexually adventurous young woman, and still other times shaking my head at the sad and even terrifying situations Joyce was thrust into by her simple need to be fully herself. This is a smart, beautifully written tale that has permanently changed the way I see both modern and traditional cultures. I cannot recommend it more highly.

What happens when a headstrong American girl runs off with a handsome Greek sailor? Plenty. He takes her back home, to a remote Greek island, and leaves her with his parents on their peasant farm in the mountains. Cut off from everything even remotely familiar, Joyce has to adjust to a hardscrabble life ruled by traditions she doesn't understand in a culture where she is suspect. Her journey of discovery is compelling reading, and the characters are complex and real. The descriptions of life on the island are extremely vivid and well-drawn. A must read for anyone with a romantic dream of "getting away from it all."

Telling the tale of young love, irrationality, and brusque decisions is Benedict's forte. Her gift of prose weaves a brilliant portrait of myriad topics.

Joyce is a young American searching to find herself, seemingly lost in her own skin, in her own world. Meet Nikos, the stunning Greek sailor. The two meet in a grocery store, where he soon whisks her off as his 18 year old bride, and takes her to his parents on the small Greek Island of Ifestia.

Ifestia, [loosely based on Lemnos, according to the author], is an island with quite a history. Constantly at war, it's people are hard, and from another time. Joyce, attempts to fit in and find her niche in Greek peasant society.

Benedict's characterizations, descriptions and brilliant prose sails the reader to another time, in a completely enveloping tale. A tale of love, tragedy, life, and its lessons rolled into one, The Sailor's Wife, attempts and succeeds at being a fascinating, thought-provoking read.

Enjoy!