When We Were Them
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
From New York Times bestselling author Laura Taylor Namey comes a “lyrical and tender, authentic” (Kirkus Reviews) novel about friendship and the bittersweetness of growing up and growing apart.
When they were fifteen, Willa, Luz, and Britton’s friendship was everything.
When they were sixteen, they stood by each other no matter what.
When they were seventeen, they went through the worst.
And when they were eighteen, Willa ruined it all.
Now, it’s the week of graduation, and Willa is left with only a memory box filled with symbols of the friendship she destroyed: A book of pranks. Corsages from a nightmarish homecoming. A greasy pizza menu. Greeting cards with words that mean the world…
It’s enough to make Willa wonder how anything could tear her, Luz, and Britton apart. But as Willa revisits the moments when she and her friends leaned on each other, she can’t avoid the moments they leaned so hard their friendship began to crack.
As Willa tries to find a way back to Luz and Britton, she must confront the why of her betrayal, and answer a question she never saw coming: Who is she without them?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this slowly unfolding, character-driven narrative set during graduation week in San Diego, sentimental white surfer Willa Davidson, 18, revisits life-altering moments featuring her estranged best friends, mezzo-soprano prodigy Britton, who is white, and driven, medical school–bound Cuban American Luz Martín, as she wonders how to earn back their trust after they discover a secret she's kept for months. Through the trio's memory box, Willa remembers formative experiences that deeply bonded them—such as her younger sister's near drowning; Luz's brother Nico, with whom Willa is romantically entangled, leaving for boot camp and the Navy; and Britton's clashes with her new stepfather—while trying to discover what led her to betray their friendship shortly after Nico's sudden death. As readers gradually piece together the book's central relationships, Willa begins to understand the grief, fear, and insecurity that motivated her actions, and finds the courage within herself to rebuild broken connections. Female relationships take center stage in Namey's (A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow) narrative about growing up, growing together, and, sometimes, growing apart, which will especially resonate with readers facing high school's end. Ages 12– up.
