Hazel Says No
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- $25.99
Publisher Description
When a tight-knit family moves from Brooklyn to Maine, their lives are upended by an event that will alter their new community forever in this bighearted, sparkling debut for fans of Now Is Not the Time to Panic, Pineapple Street, and Schitt’s Creek
Hazel Blum, please report to the principal’s office. Hazel Blum.
When Hazel Blum’s father gets a tenured job at a prestigious college, she and her family relocate from the hustle and bustle of Brooklyn to a middle-of-nowhere college town in Maine. With her mother, Claire, a clothing designer, and her father, Gus, an American Studies professor, Hazel and her eleven-year-old brother, Wolf, spend the summer at the town pool, where they acclimate to their new lives and connect with the town’s sprawling community. That is, until a dramatic fallout on the very first day of her senior year tips the fickle balance of idyllic Riverburg and impacts everyone in her family.
Tracking through the perspectives of each member of the Blum family, this relatable fish-out-of-water story handles big issues with great empathy and humor, capturing the love that unites one unforgettable family and the essence of life in small-town Maine. Emotionally deft, authentic, and compulsively readable, Hazel Says No is a debut novel not to be missed.
This audio edition includes a bonus conversation with Jessica Berger Gross, Emma Galvin, and John Glynn (editor of Hazel Says No).
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
It’s tough enough for a teenage girl to transition from Brooklyn to small-town Maine, but that turns out to be the least of Hazel Blum’s problems. When her dad, Gus, gets a big job at a college in fictional Riverburg, the family picks up and moves. But besides the culture shock, which includes the strangeness of being Jewish in rural Maine, Hazel’s senior year of high school turns ugly right off the bat. The principal makes sexual advances toward her, and when she stands up for herself, it kicks off a complex, unpredictable chain of events—some inspiring, some terrifying, and some simply bizarre. Hazel’s parents, Claire and Gus, and her little brother, Wolf, all have their own troubles fitting in, some affected by Hazel’s struggles. First-time novelist Jessica Berger Gross tells the story by alternating between each Blum’s POV, and narrator Emma Galvin’s multifaceted delivery makes all four family members come alive. Galvin also nails the tonal tightrope between the humorous, the horrendous, and the heartwarming. Hazel Says No speaks volumes about Gen Z’s entry into the #MeToo world.
