Louise Albert (1928-)

Louise Albert is the author of the novels But I'm Ready to Go and, more recently, Less than Perfect, the latter a story about a fifteen-year-old girl named Laura Gould, who is attempting to deal with her mother's diagnosis of breast cancer while also starting a new romantic relationship with a neighborhood boy. School Library Journal reviewer Roxanne Myers Spencer commented that in her story of how tragedy affects a well-to-do suburban New York family "Albert creates believable situations, and . . . portrays typical adolescent reactions realistically." While noting that the character of Laura did not seem altogether believable, Spencer went on to praise the novel for treating a serious family illness "candidly and sensitively." More impressed with the novel was a Publishers Weekly reviewer, who wrote of Less than Perfect that, "With great insight, the author develops Laura's fear and suppressed anger as her mother undergoes a mastectomy, and readers who have shared some of Laura's experiences are likeliest to appreciate Albert's knowing portrayal."

Albert once told Something about the Author: "I write out of my own experience and deep emotional needs. Although [I write] . . . fiction with characters In Louise Albert's 2003 novel fifteen-year-old Laura finds her emotions divided between concern over her mother's failing health and a young man who threatens to steal her heart. (Cover illustration by Greg Spalenka.) and events made up, . . . my imagination, so far, is fueled by the deepest and most tragic parts of my life. . . . Writing helps me, and I hope others, learn to accept and understand and go beyond these things in life."