Jamie and Elaine are best friends, but they don’t live near each other anymore. Most of their communication is via letter or periodic phone call; it’s through this that Jamie learns her best friend believes her boyfriend truly loves her. Elaine and he are ready for the next step. Jamie’s skeptical, especially given that this is the time when girls who found themselves pregnant were not only looked upon as problems, but they were often sent away to temporary homes until they were forced to give up their babies and then returned home. Everyone knew who was “in trouble” during these times. When Elaine finds herself in trouble, as much as Jamie’s reluctant to help, she does what she can through her family connections to try to solve the problem.

Here’s the ringer, though: Jamie is also in trouble. But Jamie finds herself that way not because she’s in love with a boy, but because of something out of her control. Suddenly, she feels like she has no where to turn, and she’s definitely not ready to have a baby — nor is she ready to be sent away.

In Trouble had immense potential, but for me, this book fell flat. The setting, during the late 1950s/early 1960s amid the scandals of McCarthyism, was full of fodder — this was a time in history when so much political turmoil spilled right into social issues, and it was a time prior to the women’s liberation movement. Levine sets her story in a great time to tackle the issue of teen pregnancy. The problem is, though, that it’s never once believable. Perhaps the bigger issue is that this book felt like a teen problem novel of the 1950s and never once like a work of historical fiction that investigated the sharp dynamics of the time period.

Jamie and Elaine are flat characters in the story. I didn’t find myself buying their friendship, especially given that Elaine didn’t seem interested in having a strong relationship with Jamie. She just needed an out. For me, it felt like the dynamics of their friendship existed only as a means to push the plot forward. More than that, though, I found that Elaine’s situation served merely as a way for Jamie’s story to emerge. Jamie’s scared and confused when she learns of Elaine’s pregnancy, though she’s not entirely surprised, given that she knew Elaine and her boyfriend were having sex. She wants to help her, and she does. This in and of itself is not the problem; instead, the problem emerges when suddenly, we’re tossed into a foreign situation to both us and to Jamie, where she’s taken advantage of and finds herself pregnant. I found this scene entirely jarring and out of character with anything Jamie would do (and no, I’m not blaming the victim here). Part of this is because I don’t ever truly get to know Jamie. I only get to know her through her relationship with and beliefs about Elaine, and thus, when she finds herself in trouble, I have a hard time believing it. Elaine’s pregnancy seemed like a convenient manner in which to insert Jamie’s pregnancy and thus, a subplot on the issues surrounding pregnancy via rape.

The book lacked true character development, as both girls were made into who they were simply through what happened to them. This is where I felt the book fell into being a traditional problem novel rather than a work of historical fiction; had the characters been pushed further, more strongly fleshed, then I think the storyline could have really blossomed. I’d have really liked a stronger development, too, of the time period. Though we get it, given that we know what happens to girls who become pregnant and through the fact that Jamie’s father finds himself in trouble because of his association to McCarthy, I feel like a stronger flair to the time period could have also made the story fuller. I say this as an adult reader, but I think that many teen readers who pick this one up just won’t see the heft here because of the weak characters and the weak setting. There are so many books tackling teen pregnancy that given more depth to their stories, and a novel that approaches the topic and does so in a historical context needs to offer more of both to have it carry the weight it should for readers. The writing is just not there.

The biggest issue I had with the book, though, comes with a bit of a spoiler warning. During this era, girls didn’t quite have the freedom that Jamie and Elaine seem to have. By that I mean there is no way that abortion would have been such an easy choice as it is in the story. Moreover, it wasn’t as acceptable as the novel portrays it to be. I think had the writing been stronger and the characters more developed, perhaps this aspect of the plot wouldn’t have bothered me as much, but unfortunately, the weakness in writing spills into the weakness of the handling of big ethical dilemmas here, too. This is a short book — just over 200 pages — but I feel like 400 pages worth of material are covered. I struggled to get through them. Had it been written more strongly, had the story not felt like a problem novel, and had I found the characters in any way interesting, I could have devoted more time and interest in a longer book.

In Trouble will appeal to your readers who like stories set in the past, as well as those who are interested in this historical period. I handed it over to a teen who loves stories of teen pregnancy, as well. The challenge, though, is I think many will walk away disappointed because the story just isn’t quite there. It feels more preachy than absorbing and lacks a lot of the elements that take a good idea from simply an idea to a true story.

Review copy received from the published. In Trouble is available now.