THE UNRESOLVED

THE UNRESOLVED is T.K. Welsh's first Young Adult (YA) novel, published by Dutton (Penguin) on August 17, 2006.

The Washington Post said, "Welsh writes with a precision and delicacy unusual for YA fiction."  School Library Journal said, "THE UNRESOLVED tells a remarkable story in a remarkable way."  Horn Book Magazine called THE UNRESOLVED, "A decidedly unconventional ghost story ... (and) a tightly wound novel."  Kirkus Reviews termed it, "A remarkable account."  Romantic Times said, "THE UNRESOLVED is a book you shouldn't pass up."  The Edge of the Forest said, "It may be the most beautifully written novel I've read this year."  All About the Book said, "THE UNRESOLVED is a great one. Mallory is the most well-developed ghostly character I've seen in a long, long time."  Midwest Book Review called THE UNRESOLVED, "a wonderfully different kind of ghost story."  And Bookslut.com said, "THE UNRESOLVED scores on several levels, most notably as a drama that blows apart all preconceived notions of how history can be retold."

Ghost meets Titanic -- For Teens
Inspired by the tragic events of 9/11, THE UNRESOLVED reaches back into history to explore what was, until recently, the greatest disaster in New York City history. At once a ghost story, a courtroom drama, an examination of immigrant life, and a tale of love, redemption and revenge, THE UNRESOLVED dramatizes how a single life – and death – can have a powerful influence on history.

Using the convention of a spirit unable to rest until its death is avenged, THE UNRESOLVED is a decidedly unconventional ghost story about New York’s General Slocum steamboat disaster of 1904. Fifteen-year-old Mallory Meer is one of some 1,300 pleasure-seekers -- mostly German Lutherans on a church outing -- on the Slocum; another passenger is Dustin Brauer, the sixteen-year-old Jewish boy she fancies. A quick “first kiss” down below decks is followed by a fire sparked by a carelessly flicked cigarette, which leads to the burning or drowning of over one thousand passengers, and the foundering of the ship. Mallory herself speaks to the reader from death, her spirit flitting from the official inquest into the disaster to the informal, parallel trial held in Kleindeutchland, Manhattan’s Little Germany, which seeks to hold Dustin responsible.

Ranked one of the Top Ten Children's Books of 2006 by the Washington Post, THE UNRESOLVED was recently nominated for a Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) 2007 Teens' Top Ten, the only book award recommended and awarded solely by teens.  The novel was previously named a 2007 Association of Jewish Libraries Notable Book for Teens by the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee, which recognized only six works in Jewish teen literature last year.  THE UNRESOLVED was also nominated for the 2006 Cybils literary awards, and for the 2007 Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA) by the American Library Association.  It's currently featured as one of the Best Teen Books of the year 2006 at BarnesAndNoble.com.

To read (or print) a sample chapter of THE UNRESOLVED, click here.

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