If you have not yet read this book, please don't read ANY reviews of it. This book has everything I love. Plucky heroine, homage to L'Engle, multi-dimensional adult characters, well-tended secondary plots... it's all here. As well as a standing up screaming, jumping up and down, tears streaming down your face kind of ending. The only false note for me was Alice-who-always-has-to-pee. The late 70s setting was dead-on, especially the mothers who wore embarrassing tights. Breathtakingly well-done, highly recommended and well worth the wait. One for the permanent collection.