Living in Secret Author: Christina Salat. Publisher: Bantam. Pages: 183. Price: $15.

Living in Secret is an intriguing and fast-paced book about the secret life of Amy Monet, a confused 11-year-old. The book is an adventure and mystery rolled into one.

Amy (Amelia) Monet used to be part of what seemed to be a normal, happy family. But since her parents' divorce three years ago, the neat pieces of Amy's life are messed up and she is trying to put them back together.

The worst of the messed up pieces is that even though all of her life Amy has really been close to her mother, the judge awards her father custody. This is because Amy's mother is a lesbian.

Amy's dad almost never allows her to visit her mother, or her mother to visit her. He wants her mother to be a thing of the past, both for him and for Amy. In other words, he seems to want Amy to forget all about her mother. But Amy wants to live with her. Amy loves her mother in a way that it doesn't matter whether she is gay or not.

A plot to escape

So Amy's mother and her mother's girlfriend, Janey, come up with a plan so Amy can live with them. The scheme is well thought out, but Amy has no say in it whatsoever. This is one of the few flaws in the book. Of course Amy has the option of staying with her father, but once the plan gets under way, she is pretty much excluded from having a voice in all of the decisions that are being made.

Amy's mom and Janey sneak Amy out of her father's house and fly her to San Francisco. Amy lives under a fake name and dyes her hair, so she won't be recognizable as Amy Monet.

I think the author does a good job of creating the scheme to get Amy to San Francisco. It seems real and possible to do. For example, on the way to San Francisco, Amy stops at small towns to throw her father off the track; she changes names every time she changes planes; and she wears a wig and dyes her hair to complete her new look. Her mother stays in New York for a while, so when Amy's father discovers that she is gone, she won't be with her mother because they know that is the first place Amy's father will look when he discovers Amy is missing.

Constant state of fear

Amy's new life has many ups and downs, with new friendships, problems, and a new family, who constantly lives in fear of being discovered by Amy's father. The characters are vividly described and so is the city around them.

We take a taxi-van from the airport to our new house, whizzing along a freeway, and then veering through a series of curved streets. "Is this your first time in San Francisco?" the driver asks, glancing over his shoulder at us. "No," Janey says, clutching her handbag on her lap. "Vacation?" "Sort of . . ." I can tell she wishes he would stop being friendly. The van creeps up a steep, winding hill and stops in front of a crooked yellow house. "Here we are!" the driver says, hopping out to get our luggage. As soon as I get out of the van and look up at our new home, I name it the Sunshine House. That's what it looks like, sunshine yellow with bushes of bright pink flowers by the front steps.

All in all, I found this to be an excellent story. The situation in the story is very realistic, and I think that the author did a wonderful job of making it seem this way. Many kids whose parents are divorced are unhappy with the situation, just like Amy, and would be able to relate to the story. I recommend this interesting novel to kids in fourth through eighth grades.