Local Girl Swept Away
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
They are four best friends who've shared joy and secrets, love and memories, and since the beginning, Lorna was the one who held them all together. Then, the unthinkable happens. During a storm, Lorna is swept out to sea, leaving the three survivors with nothing to cling to except grief and questions. How did this happen? Why was Lorna in such danger, and was she alone? When her body is never found, the mystery deepens. Did Lorna really die? Or has she made a crazy bid for freedom? Inevitably, the dynamic of the four friends' everyday life is changed forever. But the pain and confusion go deepest for Jackie, who must face her feelings of unrequited love for Lorna's boyfriend as well as try to put to rest her own questions about Lorna's presumed death. Does one of the boys in their inner circle know more than he's letting on? Will Lorna's fate ever be discovered? And how will Jackie become her own person in the wake of a wound that may never close? In this beautifully written, intense novel, one girl has to travel through loss and disillusionment to make sense of her own future.
"Ellen Wittlinger's Hard Love was one of the books that inspired me to write young adult novels." ~John Green, author, The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Teenage best friends grapple with sudden loss in Wittlinger's (Love & Lies) uneven coming-of-age tale. Jackie, Finn, Lucas, and Lorna have been close since fourth grade, when Lorna and her mother moved to Provincetown, Mass. On a stormy night in May of their junior year, Lorna, the group's wild leader, is swept out to sea while they are walking on the breakwater. Narrator Jackie mourns but also spends an inexplicable amount of time trying to persuade others that her grief is as genuine as theirs. Lucas abruptly departs for camp in New Hampshire, leaving Jackie and Finn to mope around town, take long walks on the beach, and spar over who misses Lorna more (and whether to talk about her in the past or present tense). Jackie is drawn to Finn's painter mother, Elsie, who encourages her dreams of attending art school, a plan Jackie's parents don't understand. Despite moments of true compassion and lovely descriptions of the Cape, Wittlinger doesn't fully delve into the complexities of teenage friendship, pushing the story forward through predictable plot devices. Ages 14 up.
