Mosaic

It wasn't until Carlos helped me put the pieces back together that I realized how many were missing.

Shattered. Tormented. Brain on disconnect.

A car accident leaves Erin Rocheford, a seventeen-year-old hockey player, fractured, disfigured, near death. Not only has her future career in the NHL been erased, but when she's finally released from the hospital, she can barely walk, her thoughts stumble into each other, and people grimace when they see the scars crisscrossing her face.

Erin's parents decide that a vacation in Florida, on an island of palm trees and pirate lore, is just what she needs to recover. But in her post-traumatic state, Erin is vulnerable to attack, to a ghostly invasion, and to a further fragmenting of her troubled grey matter. Soon after arriving on the island, a tale of an odd English pirate and his feisty captive—a story of defiance and decapitation—weaves itself into her mind, threatening her very soul. Erin will need to call upon every reserve in her hockey-toned body to keep from falling apart altogether, to fight back, and to protect her star player—the one boy who can see beyond the scars.

"Mosaic, Deborah Jackson's fourth young adult novel, involves young lovers, pirates, murder, ghosts and hockey; in short, something for everyone. The Ottawa-based writer has structured a suspenseful, action-filled novel which will appeal to an older teen audience.... Jackson considered Mosaic an 'experiment in structuring a novel to match its theme.'  Her experiment is definitely a success."

â"Ruth Latta, Apartment 613