This Is Our Place
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Three teens -- in three different decades -- navigate life, love, and family in Vitor Martins's heartfelt new novel that spans generations. Perfect for fans of Tales from the City and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda.
If the walls of Number 8 Sunflower Street could talk ...
As Ana celebrates the new millennium, she is shocked to learn that she must leave behind her childhood home, her hometown, and -- hardest of all -- her girlfriend for a new life in Rio de Janeiro.
Ten years later, Greg is sent to live with his aunt -- who runs a video rental store from her garage and owns a dog named Keanu Reeves -- as his parents work out their not-so-secret divorce.
And ten years after that, Beto must put his dreams of becoming a photographer on hold as the Covid-19 pandemic arrives in Brazil, forcing him to live with his overprotective mother and overachieving sister.
Set in and narrated by the same house, Number 8 Sunflower Street, and in three different decades -- 2000, 2010, and 2020 respectively -- This Is Our Place is a novel about queer teens dealing with sudden life changes, family conflict, and first loves, proving that while generations change, we will always be connected to each other.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Employing Number 8 Sunflower Street as this novel's omniscient narrator ("I am a house. Not in the metaphorical sense... I am literally a house"), Martins (Here the Whole Time) cleverly blends three of its occupants' experiences growing up across three decades in Lagoa Pequena, a small Brazilian town. In 2000, closeted Ana scrambles to find permanence in her relationship with her secret girlfriend, Letícia, after finding out Letícia is moving away. In 2010, Greg is sent to live with his aunt while his parents negotiate their divorce; there, he meets and crushes hard on delivery guy Tiago. And amid the 2020 Covid lockdown, Beto grapples with navigating tense relationships with his mother and sister while yearning to confess his love for an online friend. Though the house can read the thoughts of anyone inside, it has no idea what happens beyond its doors, resulting in a funny and heartbreaking look at the things the family members and friends hide from one another as they struggle to relate and connect. Martins compassionately relays the internal and external conflicts of the building's occupants, blending three alternating timelines to illustrate how their separate lives affect each other long-term, lending a feel-good tone that instills optimism. Ages 12–up.
