- Table View
- List View
Just Do This One Thing for Me
by Laura ZimmermannHilarious, heartbreaking, and sneaky suspenseful, Just Do This One Thing for Me is a timely novel about a rule-following daughter trying to hold her family together after her scammer mother disappears.&“Just do this one thing for me.&” Drew's mother says it more often than good morning. Heidi Hill has been juggling shady side hustles for all of Drew&’s seventeen years, and Drew knows that &“one thing&” really means all the necessary things her mother thinks are boring, including taking care of her fifteen-year-old sister and eight-year-old brother. In fact, Drew is the closest thing to a responsible adult they&’ve ever known. When their mother disappears on the way to a New Year&’s Eve concert in Mexico and her schemes start unraveling, Drew is faced with a choice: Follow the rules, do the responsible thing, and walk away--alone--from her mother's mess. Or hope the weather stays cold, keep the cons going, and just maybe hold her family together.
Patron Saints of Nothing
by Randy RibayA NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST"Brilliant, honest, and equal parts heartbreaking and soul-healing." --Laurie Halse Anderson, author of SHOUT "A singular voice in the world of literature." --Jason Reynolds, author of Long Way DownA powerful coming-of-age story about grief, guilt, and the risks a Filipino-American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin's murder.Jay Reguero plans to spend the last semester of his senior year playing video games before heading to the University of Michigan in the fall. But when he discovers that his Filipino cousin Jun was murdered as part of President Duterte's war on drugs, and no one in the family wants to talk about what happened, Jay travels to the Philippines to find out the real story.Hoping to uncover more about Jun and the events that led to his death, Jay is forced to reckon with the many sides of his cousin before he can face the whole horrible truth -- and the part he played in it.As gripping as it is lyrical, Patron Saints of Nothing is a page-turning portrayal of the struggle to reconcile faith, family, and immigrant identity.
The Night Diary
by Veera HiranandaniA 2019 NEWBERY HONOR BOOK"A gripping, nuanced story of the human cost of conflict appropriate for both children and adults." -Kirkus, starred reviewIn the vein of Inside Out and Back Again and The War That Saved My Life comes a poignant, personal, and hopeful tale of India's partition, and of one girl's journey to find a new home in a divided countryIt's 1947, and India, newly independent of British rule, has been separated into two countries: Pakistan and India. The divide has created much tension between Hindus and Muslims, and hundreds of thousands are killed crossing borders.Half-Muslim, half-Hindu twelve-year-old Nisha doesn't know where she belongs, or what her country is anymore. When Papa decides it's too dangerous to stay in what is now Pakistan, Nisha and her family become refugees and embark first by train but later on foot to reach her new home. The journey is long, difficult, and dangerous, and after losing her mother as a baby, Nisha can't imagine losing her homeland, too. But even if her country has been ripped apart, Nisha still believes in the possibility of putting herself back together.Told through Nisha's letters to her mother, The Night Diary is a heartfelt story of one girl's search for home, for her own identity...and for a hopeful future.
Too Much Happiness (Vintage International Ser.)
by Alice MunroThis stunning collection of stories demonstrates once again why Alice Munro is celebrated as a pre-eminent master of the short story. While some of the stories are traditional, set in &“Alice Munro Country&” in Ontario or in B.C., dealing with ordinary women&’s lives, others have a new, sharper edge. They involve child murders, strange sex, and a terrifying home invasion. By way of astonishing variety, the title story, set in Victorian Europe, follows the last journey from France to Sweden of a famous Russian mathematician. This daring, superb collection proves that Alice Munro will always surprise you.
I Will Send Rain: A Novel
by Rae MeadowsA luminous, tenderly rendered novel of a woman fighting for her family's survival in the early years of the Dust Bowl; from the acclaimed and award-winning Rae Meadows.Annie Bell can't escape the dust. It's in her hair, covering the windowsills, coating the animals in the barn, in the corners of her children's dry, cracked lips. It's 1934 and the Bell farm in Mulehead, Oklahoma is struggling as the earliest storms of The Dust Bowl descend. All around them the wheat harvests are drying out and people are packing up their belongings as storms lay waste to the Great Plains. As the Bells wait for the rains to come, Annie and each member of her family are pulled in different directions. Annie's fragile young son, Fred, suffers from dust pneumonia; her headstrong daughter, Birdie, flush with first love, is choosing a dangerous path out of Mulehead; and Samuel, her husband, is plagued by disturbing dreams of rain.As Annie, desperate for an escape of her own, flirts with the affections of an unlikely admirer, she must choose who she is going to become. With her warm storytelling and beautiful prose, Rae Meadows brings to life an unforgettable family that faces hardship with rare grit and determination. Rich in detail and epic in scope, I Will Send Rain is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, filled with hope, morality, and love.
The Family Clause: A Novel
by Jonas Hassen Khemiri“The son did as he was told. All his bloody life, he has done as he has been told. Time to change that, he thinks, grabbing a pen. He doesn’t write that this will be the last time his father stays here. He doesn’t write that he wants to break the father clause. Instead, he writes: Welcome, Dad. Hope you had a good flight.”A grandfather who lives abroad returns home to visit his adult children. The son is a failure. The daughter is having a baby with the wrong man. Only the grandfather is perfect—at least, according to himself. But over the course of ten intense days, relationships unfold and painful memories resurface. The grandfather is confronted by his past. The daughter is faced with an impossible choice. The son tries to write himself free. Something has to give. Per a longstanding family agreement, the grandfather has maintained his Swedish residency by coming to stay with his son every six months. Can this clause be renegotiated, or will it chain the family to its past forever?Through a series of quickly changing perspectives, in The Family Clause Jonas Hassen Khemiri evokes an intimate portrait of a chaotic and perfectly normal family, deeply wounded by the death of a child and the disappearance of a father.
A Place in the Country: A Novel
by Elizabeth AdlerFifteen-year-old Issy and her newly single mother, Caroline Evans, are struggling to find their way alone, as well as together. At thirty-eight, with little money and all the responsibility for the two of them, Caroline is coming to terms with her new situation. When she decides to leave Singapore, home of her former well-off life (and her cheating husband), she ends up living in an English village pub, cooking dinners there to earn enough to get by, meeting unexpectedly quirky people, and making friends. But Issy still adores her father and secretly blames her mother for their change in life. Just as Caroline's dream of converting an old barn into a restaurant finally begins to take shape, her chance at happiness is threatened and hangs in the balance as whispers of murder and vengeance find their way to her. When Issy, who is hovering in that limbo between girl and young woman, begins to make some risky choices, the stakes are raised even higher. A Place in the Country is filled with emotions every woman will recognize as Caroline and Issy make their way in the world and do battle with those who would wish to see them lose their chances to gain their hearts' desires. Love and hate, blame and responsibility, deception and trust all collide in this novel that is Elizabeth Adler at her page-turning best. From The New York Times bestselling author comes an emotionally powerful novel about mothers and daughters, the secrets they share, and those they keep to themselves.
Badly Drawn Beth: Book 1 (Badly Drawn Beth #1)
by Knife And PackerWinner of the Laugh Out Loud book awards!Badly Drawn Beth is officially the funniest book for 6-8 year olds in 2016! Beth is a hilarious new heroine who just can't help getting in trouble ...So, I'm surrounded by crocodiles, holding a briefcase full of fish fingers, I'm wearing a swamp monster mask AND MISS PRIMULA IS ABOUT TO CALL MY PARENTS!Meet Beth - and all of her fantastically crazy family and friends - and be prepared to laugh your socks off!A hilarious new diary series from the creators of Fleabag Monkeyface.
Elsewhere: A brand new tense and haunting psychological suspense
by Sarah TierneyA psychologically gripping novel of estranged sisters, deep secrets, and tense twists from &“an elegant and thrilling new voice&” (Emma Jane Unsworth, author of Animals). At the height of summer, two sisters reunite at a remote cottage. They&’ve long been distant from each other, literally as well as emotionally: Anna is a free-spirited wanderer and Catherine is career-focused and settled in one place. So, some tension is not surprising, but it rapidly escalates when odd things start happening during the all-night twilight on the wild peninsula. Who&’s the watchful girl with a baby and what does she want from the sisters? Who bangs on their windows in the early hours then disappears into the woods? What does the sad-eyed Scottish man Anna is falling for know about it all? And how does it link back to an event twenty years ago that the sisters never talk about—the incident that created all this confusion, dislocation, and longing in the first place? This suspenseful, knowing novel explores how psychosis creeps in on the back of isolation and suspicion; the shadow that motherhood casts over women&’s lives, even when there is no child; and how buried trauma always winds its way up to the surface—sometimes in the strangest and most frightening ways.Praise for Sarah Tierney&’s Making Space &“A strong debut.&” —The Manchester Review &“Simply riveting . . . unfailingly entertaining.&” —Midwest Book Review
Poor Deer: A Novel
by Claire OshetskyA wondrous, tender novel about a young girl grappling with her role in a tragic loss—and attempting to reshape the narrative of her life—from PEN/Faulkner Award nominee Claire OshetskyMargaret Murphy is a weaver of fantastic tales, growing up in a world where the truth is too much for one little girl to endure. Her first memory is of the day her friend Agnes died.No one blames Margaret. Not in so many words. Her mother insists to everyone who will listen that her daughter never even left the house that day. Left alone to make sense of tragedy, Margaret wills herself to forget these unbearable memories, replacing them with imagined stories full of faith and magic—that always end happily.Enter Poor Deer: a strange and formidable creature who winds her way uninvited into Margaret’s made-up tales. Poor Deer will not rest until Margaret faces the truth about her past and atones for her role in Agnes’s death.Heartrending, hopeful, and boldly imagined, Poor Deer explores the journey toward understanding the children we once were and the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of life’s most difficult moments.
People Collide: A Novel
by Isle McElroy“A big project knocking around in a small package, portending even bigger projects ahead.”—New York Times“A little Kafkaesque, a little Hitchcockian, a little Freaky Friday, but McElroy makes this dizzying story their own.”—Electric LiteratureFrom the acclaimed author of The Atmospherians, a gender-bending, body-switching novel that explores marriage, identity, and sex, and raises profound questions about the nature of true partnership.When Eli leaves the cramped Bulgarian apartment he shares with Elizabeth, his more organized and successful wife, he discovers that he now inhabits her body. Not only have he and his wife traded bodies, but Elizabeth, living as Eli, has disappeared without a trace. What follows is Eli’s search across Europe and to America for his missing wife—and a roving, no-holds-barred exploration of gender and embodied experience.As Eli comes closer to finding Elizabeth—while learning to exist in her body—he begins to wonder what effect this metamorphosis will have on their relationship and how long he can maintain the illusion of living as someone he isn’t. Will their new marriage wither completely? Or is this transformation the very thing Eli and Elizabeth need for their marriage to thrive?A rich, rewarding exploration of ambition and sacrifice, desire and loss, People Collide is a portrait of shared lives that shines a refreshing light on everything we thought we knew about love, sexuality, and the truth of who we are.
Girls on the Verge
by Sharon Biggs Waller"Absolutely essential, as is the underlying message that girls take care of each other when no one else will." —Booklist, Starred Review A 2020 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults SelectionGirls on the Verge is an incredibly timely novel about a woman’s right to choose. Sharon Biggs Waller brings to life a narrative that has to continue to fight for its right to be told, and honored.Camille couldn't be having a better summer—she kills it as Ophelia in her community theater's production of Hamlet, catches the eye of the cutest boy in the play, and nabs a spot in a prestigious theater program. But on the very night she learns she got into the program, she also finds out she’s pregnant. She definitely can’t tell her parents. And her best friend Bea doesn’t agree with the decision Camille has made.Camille is forced to try to solve her problem alone…and the system is very much working against her. At her most vulnerable, Camille reaches out to Annabelle Ponsonby, a girl she only barely knows from the theater. Happily, Annabelle agrees to drive her wherever she needs to go. And in a last minute change of heart, Bea decides to come with.Over the course of more than a thousand miles, friendships will be tested and dreams will be challenged. But ultimately, the girls will realize that friends are the real heroes in every story."[C]ompelling... This title offers realistic viewpoints on teenage pregnancy, along with what it is like to have the right to choose, wanting that right, and living knowing that you will be judged for having exercised it." —School Library Journal, Starred Review
Twice as Perfect
by Louisa OnoméA Young Adult novel by Louisa Onomé, Twice As Perfect follows a Nigerian Canadian girl dealing with an estranged older brother, helping her cousin plan a big Nigerian wedding, and pressure from her parents about her future.She thinks the only things worth doing are those that will lead to success.For seventeen-year-old Adanna Nkwachi, life is all about duty: to school and the debate team, to her Nigerian parents, and even to her cousin Genny as Adanna helps prepare Genny’s wedding to Afrobeats superstar Skeleboy. Because ever since her older brother, Sam, had a fight with their parents a few years ago and disappeared, somebody had to fill the void he left behind. Adanna may never understand what caused Sam to leave home, but the one thing she knows is that it’s on her to make sure her parents’ sacrifices aren’t in vain.One day, chance brings the siblings together again and they start working to repair their bond. Although she fears how their parents will react if they find out, Adanna’s determined to get answers about the night Sam left—Sam, who was supposed to be an engineer but is now, what, a poet? The more she learns about Sam’s poetry, the more Adanna begins to wonder if maybe her own happiness is just as important as doing what’s expected of her. Amid parental pressure, anxiety over the debate competition, a complicated love life, and the Nigerian wedding-to-end-all-weddings, can Adanna learn, just this once, to put herself first?
Rock Paper Scissors: A Novel
by Alice FeeneyINSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER“Feeney lives up to her reputation as the “queen of the twist”…This page-turner will keep you guessing.” —Real SimpleThink you know the person you married? Think again…Things have been wrong with Mr and Mrs Wright for a long time. When Adam and Amelia win a weekend away to Scotland, it might be just what their marriage needs. Self-confessed workaholic and screenwriter Adam Wright has lived with face blindness his whole life. He can’t recognize friends or family, or even his own wife. Every anniversary the couple exchange traditional gifts--paper, cotton, pottery, tin--and each year Adam’s wife writes him a letter that she never lets him read. Until now. They both know this weekend will make or break their marriage, but they didn’t randomly win this trip. One of them is lying, and someone doesn’t want them to live happily ever after.Ten years of marriage. Ten years of secrets. And an anniversary they will never forget.Rock Paper Scissors is the latest exciting domestic thriller from the queen of the killer twist, New York Times bestselling author Alice Feeney.
Upstander
by James PrellerGirl bullies, internet bullying, and substance use are themes in this James Preller middle grade standalone companion to Bystander Mary O’Malley is tired of keeping secrets. Secrets like her older brother, Jonny’s, drug use. Starting seventh grade is tough enough without the upheaval her brother is bringing to their family.It seems the only person who might understand is Griffen Connolly, whose older sister runs with Jonny in the wrong crowd. Mary thought Griff was too cool, too popular for her. But now he wants to hang out with her, and listen.When two girls Mary thought were her friends decide to slam another girl online, Mary tries to look the other way. Then the girls turn on Mary, and suddenly, she doesn’t have a safety zone. Her brother is out of control, her family’s energies are all spent on him. There is only one person she can turn to. But can she trust Griff? Or is he one of the bullies?
Little Pea
by Amy Krouse RosenthalIf Little Pea doesn't eat all of his sweets, there will be no vegetables for dessert! What's a young pea to do? Children who have trouble swallowing their veggies will love the way this pea-size picture book serves up a playful story they can relate to.
Christa Comes Out of Her Shell
by Abbi WaxmanJust when she thought she&’d gotten far enough away . . . a life-changing phone call throws an antisocial scientist back into her least favorite place—the spotlight. A hilarious and insightful new novel from the USA Today bestselling author of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill. After a tumultuous childhood, Christa Barnet has hidden away, both figuratively and literally. Happily studying sea snails in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Christa finds her tranquil existence thrown into chaos when her once-famous father—long thought dead after a plane crash—turns out to be alive, well, and ready to make amends. The world goes wild, fascinated by this real-life saga, pinning Christa and her family under the spotlight. As if that weren&’t enough, her reunion with an old childhood friend reveals an intense physical attraction neither was expecting and both want to act on . . . if they can just keep a lid on it. When her father&’s story starts to develop cracks, Christa fears she will lose herself, her potential relationship, and—most importantly—any chance of making it back to her snails before they forget her completely.
My German Brother: A Novel
by Chico BuarqueAn uproarious novel about a man’s often sordid, lifelong search for his possibly imaginary half brotherMy German Brother is the renowned Brazilian musician and author Chico Buarque’s attempt to reconstruct through fiction his obsessive lifelong search for a lost sibling.In 1960s São Paulo, the teenage car thief and budding lothario Ciccio comes home each day to a house stuffed with books. His father, a journalist and scholar, has spent his life acquiring them; his mother, by necessity, has spent her life organizing this library. Ciccio feels like an afterthought in his own family, largely left to his own criminal devices. Forbidden to touch any of these books, Ciccio sneaks off with The Golden Bough one day to discover a decades-old letter hidden inside. The letter reveals an illicit affair his father carried on while posted in Nazi-era Berlin, an affair that resulted in the birth of a baby boy. The child, along with his mother, vanished into the chaos of the Second World War. Ciccio develops a fascination for his mysterious German brother: a fixation that becomes a mission, both comical and courageous, pursued over decades, through dead ends and embarrassments and cases of mistaken identity. My German Brother is the project of a lifetime, combining what was, what might have been, and outright fabrication, all in order to arrive at the truth.
Going Home: One of the Observer's Debut Novels of 2024
by Tom Lamont'A spirit-lifting debut'DAVID MITCHELL'I will never forget these characters: so pained and funny, so brilliantly drawn, wrestled with and forgiven'HELEN GARNER'Meltingly warm'OBSERVERLocal boy Téo Erskine is back in the north London suburb of his youth, visiting his father - stubborn, selfish, complicated Vic. Things have changed for Téo: he's got a steady job, a brand-new car and a London flat all concrete and glass, with a sliver of a river view. Except, underneath the surface, not much has changed at all. He's still the boy seeking his father's approval; the young man playing late-night poker with his best friend, unreliable, infuriating Ben Mossam; the one still desperately in love with the enigmatic Lia Woods. Lia's life, on the other hand, has been transformed: now a single mum to two-year-old Joel, she doesn't have time for anyone - not even herself.When the unthinkable happens, Joel finds himself at the centre of an odd constellation of men - Téo, Vic, Ben - none of whom is fully equipped to look after him, but whose strange, tentative attempts at love might just be enough to offer him a new place to call home.
Our Little Secret: the brand-new suspense thriller for 2024 from the multi-million-copy bestseller!
by Lisa Jackson'Had me on the edge of my seat! I just could NOT put it down... A must read!!! You will flip out when you get to the twist!' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐He swore he'd never let her go. She should have believed him.Brooke Hastings is ready to end her six-week affair. Gideon Ross is charming and sexy, but he's not worth throwing away her marriage and family for. So she breaks it off, hoping Gideon will understand. He doesn't. Gideon insists that he and Brooke are meant to be together. Finally, he backs off, but not before issuing a promise: he'll never let her go. Six years later, Brooke wants to believe it's all behind her. Her family has survived intact. Gideon has vanished. But the fear hasn't disappeared. Brooke can't tell how much of it is paranoia, and how much is justified, but she's worried. And maybe she's right to be. Because Gideon is a man who keeps his promises . . .A totally addictive psychological thriller with a twist you won't see coming. Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, K.L Slater and The Housemaid. Readers are gripped by Our Little Secret: 'A HUGE hit for me. I read in one sitting as I could not put this down... So many twists and turns!... This will have your heart pounding from cover to cover' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Wow!! If you are looking for a good thriller with non-stop action, this is the book for you!... It is a wild ride!' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Soooo much drama! I was soooo invested. Head was spinning about different theories and thoughts on who Brooke should trust... Sit back, get cosy and enjoy!' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'This book was riveting, start to finish! Affairs, stalking, murder. What more could a girl want? This one was hard to put down' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'A perfect psychological thriller. There was constant build up that kept my heart pounding with every page... I loved it' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Heart pounding from beginning to end I was held truly captive by this new thriller' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Fast-paced thriller that will keep you second guessing what you know with the turn of every page... Sucked me in immediately with its secrets, lies, betrayal and family drama! An absolute page turner I could not get enough of' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Absent Father Effect on Daughters: Father Desire, Father Wounds
by Susan E. SchwartzWinner of the Internationl Association for Jungian Studies (IAJS) Book Award for Best Clinical Book 2021The Absent Father Effect on Daughters investigates the impact of absent – physically or emotionally – and inadequate fathers on the lives and psyches of their daughters through the perspective of Jungian analytical psychology. This book tells the stories of daughters who describe the insecurity of self, the splintering and disintegration of the personality, and the silencing of voice.Issues of fathers and daughters reach to the intra-psychic depths and archetypal roots, to issues of self and culture, both personal and collective. Susan E. Schwartz illustrates the maladies and disappointments of daughters who lack a father figure and incorporates clinical examples describing how daughters can break out of idealizations, betrayals, abandonments and losses to move towards repair and renewal. The book takes an interdisciplinary approach, expanding and elucidating Jungian concepts through dreams, personal stories, fairy tales and the poetry of Sylvia Plath, along with psychoanalytic theory, including Andre Green’s ‘dead father effect’ and Julia Kristeva’s theories on women and the body as abject.Examining daughters both personally and collectively affected by the lack of a father, The Absent Father Effect on Daughters is highly relevant for those wanting to understand the complex dynamics of daughters and fathers to become their authentic selves. It will be essential reading for anyone seeking understanding, analytical and depth psychologists, other therapy professionals, academics and students with Jungian and post-Jungian interests.
Sweet Vengeance: A Novel Of Resilience And Revenge
by Fern MichaelsA deeply satisfying and uplifting story of one woman&’s journey from heartbreak to triumph by #1 New York Times bestselling storyteller Fern Michaels. Now in trade paperback for the first time! Tessa Jamison couldn&’t have imagined anything worse than losing her beloved twin girls and husband—until she was convicted of their murder. For ten years, she has counted off the days in Florida&’s Correctional Center for Women, fully expecting to die behind bars. Fighting to prove her innocence holds little appeal now that her family&’s gone. But on one extraordinary day, her lawyers announce that Tessa&’s conviction has been overturned due to a technicality, and she&’s released on bail to await a new trial. Hounded by the press, Tessa retreats to the small tropical island owned by her late husband&’s pharmaceutical company. There, she begins to gather knowledge about her case. For the first time since her nightmare began, Tessa feels a sense of purpose in working to finally expose the truth and avenge her lost family. One by one, the guilty will be led to justice, and Tessa can gain closure. But will she be able to learn the whole truth at last . . . and reclaim her freedom and her future?
Cleaning Day (Stairway Decodables Step 5)
by Leanna KochIt’s cleaning day! Mom and Jay spend the day busily organizing and cleaning the house from top to bottom. But when it’s time to rest and enjoy a snack, Jay has another idea in mind. Stairway Decodables is a supplemental phonics resource that’s perfect for supporting small group instruction, independent reading, or reading practice at home. This title provides practice in decoding words with vowel teams ea and ay.
Molly and the Cat Café: A Novel (Cat Café)
by Melissa DaleyMelissa Daley's novel Molly and the Cat Cafe is a heartwarming story of determination and friendship.When two-year-old tabby, Molly, loses her beloved owner, her world falls apart. Re-homed with three cat-hating dogs, she decides to take matters into her own paws and embarks on a grueling journey to the nearest town. As Molly walks the cobbled streets of Stourton, she begins to lose all hope of finding a home… Until one day she is welcomed into the warmth by caring café owner, Debbie. Like Molly, Debbie is also an outsider and, with a daughter to care for, she is desperate to turn around the struggling café. But a local battle axe is on the warpath and she is determined to keep out newcomers, especially four-legged ones. It looks as if Debbie will have to choose between the café and Molly. Yet the solution to their problems may not be as far away as they think. Will Debbie and Molly be able to turn their fortunes around to launch the Cotswolds’ first Cat Café?
The Tribes of Palos Verdes: A Novel
by Joy NicholsonJoy Nicholson's The Tribes of Palos Verdes is a Los Angeles Times bestseller and now a major motion picture starring Jennifer Garner, Maika Monroe, and Cody Fern.“Nicholson captures the California-coast culture. . . . Medina shows what it’s like to feel ‘six million years old’ way before your time."—Entertainment Weekly“Impressive . . . Captures what it is to be young, intelligent, and very alone.”—Us WeeklyMedina Mason is a defiant, awkward fourteen-year-old living in the affluent beach community of Palos Verdes, California. The pressure is intense in their high-stakes world, and Medina’s family begins to break under the stress. Her parents’ marriage disintegrates and her beloved brother turns to drugs in order to cope. Medina turns to the ocean to escape it all. She surfs to survive, finding a bitter solace in the rough comfort of the waves.“An inspiring portrait of a young woman unswayed by other people’s pettiness” (Mademoiselle), this is the moving story of growing up “different,” of the love between siblings, and of one girl’s power to save herself