A few of the characters in the book are worried about Jane's being alone and far from help. If The Solitary has a major weakness, it is in minimizing the dangers a seventeen-year-old girl faces in a society in which human predators often prey on young women. Perhaps Hall wished to avoid sensationalism in a novel which appeals to the minds and good sense of its audience. Still, young readers would be wrong not to worry about what might happen to a young woman who is known to live alone and far from help.

In The Solitary, Hall touches on some significantly sensitive social themes.

For instance, Jane's father was a vicious wife beater who threatened his own daughter with harm. To protect Jane, her mother murdered her father.

In spite of sensational television motion pictures and a few celebrated court cases, women who kill their...