Hurwin, Davida Wills.  Freaks and Revelations. November 2009. 240 p. Little, Brown and Company, 16.99 (9780316049962)

Told in alternating first person accounts, this is the story of two teenagers in California from 1973 to 2005.  One is an angry neo-Nazi punk rocker and the other is a thirteen year old gay hustler thrown out of his house by his mother.  The story begins with the characters as children, follows them to their violent first encounter, and ends with their peaceful reunion years later.  Based on a true story, Davida Wills Hurwin gives the reader more than a tv movie of the week treatment, but a sensitive and revealing portrait of two characters dealing with deep emotional scars.  Along the journey, there is family dysfunction, religious zealotry, self discovery, rejection, and finally, forgiveness and redemption.–Michael Santangelo