I found this tedious and slow reading. ( )

When a cathedral caretaker loses his balance and falls into a stained glass window, he survives the fall and sets two stories into motion. Charles, who has taken refuge from his piano lesson in the church, is unscathed by the burst of glass but discovers a young woman who has suffered a laceration and amnesia. He returns the next day with food, and together they search for clues to her background. Ironically, as they search, Charles makes discoveries about his own identity, remembering family moments and crises with exacting emotional clarity. Meanwhile, the caretaker, fortuitously a scholar of historic glass, works to restore the window. Patches of fine writing dazzle, but the densely detailed reminiscences and flashbacks slow the narrative. Set in Canada, this introspective coming-of-age story will resonate with older teens, but the leisurely paced narrative requires patient, persistent readers.
Linda Perkins (Booklist, Dec. 15, 2001 (Vol. 98, No. 8))
Winner: Young Adult Canadian Book Award Shortlist 2002 Canada