Free Radical

Luke McHenry loves baseball. After repeated disappointments, he is determined to make the All Star team. Then his mother makes an explosive confession: 31 years ago she was involved in an anti–Vietnam War protest that went horribly wrong, and a student was killed. Mom has been in hiding ever since, but now she is ready to turn herself in. While her whole life in Alaska has been a masquerade, for Luke it is his only reality. Suddenly, everything—from the baseball season to his very identity—is in jeopardy.
As Luke witnesses his mother’s struggle to face up to the mistakes of her youth, he begins to understand his own hopes and fears—and who he really is. Free Radical is both a contemporary coming-of-age story and a moving depiction of a parent’s guilt and need for forgiveness.