St. Ursula's girls against the atomic bomb

the long version

How can an eighteen year old who is haunted by the world’s problems possibly concentrate on chemistry and algebra? Raine Rassaby is a senior at St. Ursula’s Academy in New York City, but rather than study, she rescues wounded birds, arranges pilgrimages to nuclear missile silos, befriends street people, gets arrested, and organizes a group called St. Ursula’s Girls Against the Atomic Bomb. The Mother Superior, hoping to set Raine on a more wholesome path, sends her to the school guidance counselor. But the counselor, Al Klepatar, has problems of his own. His wife has fallen in love with a younger man. Al is strangely drawn into Raine’s life, and the more he becomes involved in her passions, the less he understands himself. In the depths of their fractured worlds, Raine and Al are surprised by what they discover—about the world, and about themselves. About the Author Valerie Hurley was the winner of the 1999 Indiana Review Fiction Prize, and her work has been published in New Letters, The North American Review, The Missouri Review, The Iowa Review, and other literary magazines. She lives in northern Vermont with her husband, John.