The Grove
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In this tender coming-of-age novel set in the socioeconomic tinderbox of the 1960s, two sisters in a struggling and damaged family only have each other to rely on . . . until an ugly secret tears them apart and threatens the cause of justice in their small town.
YALSA BEST FICTION FOR YOUNG ADULTS SELECTION
Fifteen-year-old Pip and seventeen-year-old Sissy aren't just sisters, they're best friends. Every year, they wait eagerly for the traveling carnival to put its stakes down in their tiny Florida town. It's the only time when the girls can abandon their endless chores on the family's orange grove and give in to pure joy. And the only time Pip and Sissy can forget their many troubles . . . living on the brink of poverty, Mama's despair, and Daddy's perpetual anger.
With the arrival of the carnival, the girls’ slow, small lives suddenly feels bigger and brighter. But this year, something is different. Once the carnival leaves, with the charming young sword-swallower with it, Sissy grows increasingly distant from Pip and is soon no more than a stranger in their house. Pip grows closer to her friend Silas as a result, but when Sissy's shocking secret is revealed, the three unwittingly find themselves in a desperate situation that will change them all forever. In the land of the sweetest fruits, Pip must find her way through the soured hopes and bitter regrets of her family to finally break free of the grove.
Set against the class and economic tensions of early 1960s America, this stark yet hopeful novel tells a compelling story about the inescapable bonds of sisterhood and the lies we tell ourselves to survive.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In early 1960s Florida, 15-year-old Penelope "Pip" Bean lives on her family's orange grove, Juicy Acres, with her resentful mother, angry father, and beloved 17-year-old sister Sissy, Pip's only friend. As the siblings manage their chores and navigate their parents' constant bickering about the grove's precarious finances, they long for escape and look forward to visiting the annual traveling carnival, which recently arrived in their small town. But something is different about this year's visit. Upon the attraction's departure, Sissy withdraws emotionally, taking with her Pip's only solace. Feeling unmoored, Pip turns to writing stories and soon befriends kind Juicy Acres farmhand Silas, with whom she grows close as they explore the orchard and its surrounding landscape. When Pip learns about what happened to Sissy, the truth—and the aftermath of its reveal—will test their loyalty like never before. Pip's devotion to her sister influences everything she does, and even when they're at odds, their heartfelt dynamic resonates throughout the novel. Luminous prose relays the protagonist's satisfying emotional growth over the course of Phillips's potent tale of love and loyalty. Main characters read as white. Ages 14–up.
