25 Books You Can't Put Down

Camilla by Madeleine L'Engle

256 pages; Farrar, Straus and Giroux

No tropical heat for the lonely, sheltered heroine of Camilla, Madeleine L'Engle's 1951 novel of midcentury Manhattan, republished by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Camilla's elegant mother, Rose, has an unctuous boyfriend who makes the teenager cringe and her father, Rafferty, seethe with rage. Struggling to make sense of all that conflict, walking the snowy city streets with a boy named Frank, Camilla tries to fathom the sweet, slow progress of desire.

First chapter: Read an excerpt from Camilla