Irini Spanidou's highly praised first novel, God's Snake, introduced a writer of rare perception and a character, Anna Karystinou, with whom readers fell in love.  In Fear, the author returns to Anna as she comes of age.

It is now 1959, and thirteen-year old Anna is a perpetual newcomer, moving from place to place with her family.  Her father, a demanding army colonel, has raised her to be invulnerable and proud.  But Anna's confident air belies her anxiety as she grapples with her burgeoning sexuality, and begins an uneasy friendship with the smug and challenging Veronica Koroneou.  When Anna learns that a serial killer is preying on young women nearby, she is lured toward the sourch of her terror.  From a unique and brutally honest angle, Fear is an unflinching protrait of a girl's difficult transition into womanhood. "Anna haunts us, moves us, and convinces us."  -Los Angeles TImes

"Fear...is a unique construction of time, place, and circumstance."  -Time Out New York

"A beautiful and moving book, tenderly understanding in its depiction of a sensitive, intelligent girl's coming-of-age."  -The Washington Post Book World