August or Forever
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- £7.49
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- £7.49
Publisher Description
"What a beautiful novel about sisterhood, about art, about hearts broken and hearts mended. August or Forever will forever chime inside my own heart."
—Gayle Brandeis, author of My Life with the Lincolns
Ten-year-old Molly has always loved having a sister, but sisters are supposed to live together, right? Molly certainly thinks so. Unfortunately, her older half-sister Alison lives on a whole other continent. Their video chats are great, and Molly is thrilled when Alison's hand-written letters arrive in the mail like surprise gifts. Still, it's not enough, not compared to what other siblings have. That's why when Molly finds out that Alison is finally coming to visit over the summer, she devises a plan she's sure will get her sister to stay. But then Alison arrives with plans of her own, a fragile heart gets broken, and Molly stumbles upon a painful piece of her sister's past. Molly has always loved having a sister, but this is the August when she'll learn what it really means to be one.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Upstate New York, 10-year-old Molly idolizes older half sister Alison, who lives in London. Now that Alison has graduated from university, she plans to spend all of August with Molly and her father, but Molly wishes that Alison would stay forever. Meanwhile, Molly's best friend, Diane, expresses frustration about her own younger sister's constantly copying her. While Molly believes that she and Alison sincerely bonded over their shared love of drawing and have stayed close through letters and video chats, Diane's complaints evoke worries that Alison might be annoyed by Molly as well. When a teaching position becomes available at her school, where their father is on the hiring committee, Molly assumes that Alison won't leave if Dad gives her the job ("Part of me wants to blurt out my idea, but parents never listen to kids when it comes to grown-up things like jobs"). As emotional upsets complicate Alison's visit, Molly struggles with jealousy and feelings of loneliness around her sister. Though time spent with the characters is brief, lending to somewhat shallow development, Molly's palpable longing for stability and connectivity buoys this earnest examination of long-distance familial relationships and fear of change. The cast reads as white. Ages 9–12.
