When the Road Ends is a young-adult

Young adult literature

Young-adult fiction or young adult literature , also juvenile fiction, is fiction written for, published for, or marketed to adolescents and young adults, roughly ages 14 to 21. The Young Adult Library Services of the American Library Association defines a young adult as "someone between the...

 novel by Jean Thesman

Jean Thesman

Jean Thesman is a popular and award-winning novelist for young adults whose predominant theme is the heroine finding her place in the world by coming to understand her family...

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Plot introduction

Mary Jack is in the foster home of a conscientious but clueless Episcopal priest, Father Matt, and his selfish troubled wife Jill. Also in their care is the silent Jane, a young girl who had been abused. The house becomes further troubled by the introduction of an older boy, Adam; but when Matt's injured sister comes to live with them, Jill threatens to leave. In order to save his marriage, Matt sends the children and his sister to live in a cabin in the mountains, supposedly with the help of a mean housekeeper who abandons them. They must learn to be self-sufficient or risk being taken away to unknown fates. Along the way, they discover just how much it takes to make a family.