The Defiant Heart by Florence B. Michelson was published by Whitman in 1964 and marketed as a "Whitman Teen Novel."
I purchased this book in February at the big library book sale. There were very few older juvenile books at the sale this year, and I grabbed the few that I could. I saw this book the other day, and on impulse, I read it. This was an accomplishment, since it is the first book I have read since April. May was a terribly stressful month.
Rebellion and defiance surged through fourteen-year-old Lila Hogan like an electric current. With a toss of her head and a snap of blue eyes, she turned from Aunt Clara and fled out the door. Scoldings—everyone telling her she was too loud, too bold, too—everything! No one understood her. Lonely and tearful, Lila fingered her charm bracelet... a dangling heart, a football from Mario... her only tangible link to her happy, carefree life in the city.
From the city to a small town, from old friends to new, from the warmth and love of her grandmother to the disapproving aloofness of her aunt and uncle... these changes made life almost unbearable for Lila in the months after her grandmother's death.
Never before had she had to fight to prove herself. She had always been popular and accepted. Now she found herself standing before a closed door. Behind that door was everything she yearned for—the love and trust of a family, the closeness of school friends, and, most of all, the inner confidence that would let her hold her head high.
It was a lonely difficult fight for Lila, but the victory was a shared one. Each member of the family gained a special understanding when the closed door was opened to love and belonging.
I don't have a firm understanding of the malt shop book genre, so I'm unsure if this book fits. In my view, it's a young adult book. It's a coming-of-age story and deals with Lila's struggles as she adjusts to living with relatives. Lila's Aunt Clara is very classist and makes disparaging comments about Lila's father. She also won't permit either Lila or her daughter, Irene, to have anything to do with the son of the cleaning woman, since she considers him bad due to her prejudice.
The author ends the story by having Lila make a certain concession. I understand why Lila does it, but I would have preferred for it to have been a partial compromise instead of giving in completely. It just didn't sit right with me for Lila to give in regarding something so extremely important to her. That's all I can say.
This is a very good book.
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