THE PASSION OF DOLSSA, by Julie Berry

The story: This is the tale of two girls: Catholic mystic Dolssa de Stigata, who barely escapes being burned as a heretic in 1241 Toulouse, France; and 17-year-old Botille, a matchmaker from a tiny fishing village who rescues Dolssa from starvation and detection, and by so doing puts herself and her village in mortal danger.

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG; Violence R; Sexual content PG; Nudity PG; Substance abuse PG; Magic & the occult PG; GLBT content G; adult themes (the Catholic church's persecution of heretics; Christian mysticism) PG-13; overall rating PG-13.

Liz's comments: I found this book to be fascinating, but it certainly isn't for middle school readers. Not that they couldn't understand it if they put their minds to it, but I can't think of a single girl at my middle school who would slog through a story like this just to come up against an unhappy ending. Save this one for the high school crowd.