Waiting
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
After her brother’s death, a teen struggles to rediscover love and find redemption in this “stunningly powerful free-verse story” (VOYA).
Growing up, London and Zach were as close as could be. And then Zach dies, and the family is gutted. London’s father is distant. Her mother won’t speak. The days are filled with what-ifs and whispers: Was it London’s fault?
Alone and adrift, London finds herself torn between her brother’s best friend and the handsome new boy in town as she struggles to find herself—and ultimately redemption—in this authentic and affecting novel from award-winning novelist Carol Lynch Williams.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
First-person stanzas convey the emotions and memories of high school student London as she grieves over the suicide of her older brother, Zach. Initially, London is overwhelmed by loneliness and the quietness that permeates her house. Her father, a missionary, has barely spoken to her since the tragedy, and her mother's silence, laced with hostility, is even more painful. ("When I step in the house, I feel the emptiness, feel me/ the only person breathing in here./ For a moment I think of my mother being here every day/ by herself/ thinking of her dead son and the daughter she hates"). The cause of her mother's resentment and the circumstances of Zach's death gradually unfold as London reaches outside her family, welcoming the support of her ex-boyfriend, Taylor, and two newcomers who know little of London's past. Exposing the heartbreak of a broken family, the complexities of denial, and the healing power of friendship, Lynch's (Miles from Ordinary) writing is characteristically gritty but also inspirational as London challenges her mother's misplaced anger and creates her own route to recovery. Ages 14 up.
