Every Now and Then
A Novel
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- £10.99
Publisher Description
Three young Wisconsin girls search for adventure during the summer of 1960 in this heartfelt novel from the New York Times–bestselling author of Whistling in the Dark.
“A memorable coming-of-age tale and suspenseful page-turner” for fans of Where the Crawdads Sing and This Tender Land (Pam Jenoff, New York Times–bestselling author of The Lost Girls of Paris)
The summer of 1960 was the hottest ever for Summit, Wisconsin. For kids seeking relief from the heat, there was a creek to be swum in, sprinklers to run through, and ice cream at Whitcomb's Drugstore. But for Frankie, Viv, and Biz, eleven-year-old best friends, it would forever be remembered as the summer that evil paid a visit to their small town—and took their young lives as they'd known them as a souvenir.
With a to-do list in hand, the girls set forth from their hideout to make their mark on that summer, but when three patients escape from Broadhurst Mental Institution, their idyllic lives take a sinister turn. Determined to uncover long-held secrets, the girls have no idea that what they discover could cost them their lives and the ones they hold dear.
Six decades later, Biz, now a bestselling novelist, remembers that long ago summer and how it still haunts her and her lifelong friends in Every Now and Then, a story about the ties that bind us, the timelessness of grief and guilt—and the everlasting hope for redemption.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kagan (The Undertaking of Tess) skillfully spins a nostalgic tale about a group of preteens who uncover their town's terrible secret. As headstrong 11-year-olds in tiny Summit, Wis., Elizabeth "Biz" Buchanan, Frances "Frankie" Maniachi, and Vivian "Viv" Cleary spend the sultry summer of 1960 looking for adventure and trying to stay in the good graces of Biz's Aunt Jane May, who has helped Biz's physician father raise Biz after her mother died shortly after Biz was born. In addition to speculating about Jane May's romantic prospects and the meddling of a busybody out to depose Summit's elderly mayor, the girls agree on a dare to explore their town's creepy mental hospital, Broadhurst, home to the criminally insane (including a notorious child-killer). In between harmless preteen pranks and innocent explorations, the girls enjoy an idyllic summer until their fascination with Broadhurst as a "Chamber of Horrors" turns into a nightmare. Kagan perfectly portrays the sense of invincibility felt by the young girls, whose lives have not yet been touched by tragedy. Colorful secondary characters, especially Mayor Bud, underpin a taut plot. This fast-paced and suspenseful outing will captivate Kagan's fans and do much to win her new ones.