Moonrise
Shortlisted for the YA Book Prize
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
From Carnegie Award-winning author Sarah Crossan comes a poignant and thought-provoking novel that explores life, sibling bonds, and forgiveness as a teen tries to reconnect with his brother on death row for a crime he may not have committed.
Seventeen-year-old Joe hasn't seen his brother in ten years. Ed didn't walk out on the family, not exactly. It's something more brutal.
Ed's locked up -- on death row.
Now his execution date has been set, and the clock is ticking. Joe is determined to spend those last weeks with his brother, no matter what other people think ... and no matter whether Ed committed the crime. But did he? And does it matter, in the end?
This poignant, timely, heartbreaking novel asks big questions: What value do you place on life? What can you forgive? And just how do you say goodbye?
Acclaim for Sarah Crossan
2016 Carnegie Award winner, One
Shortlisted for the 2016 FCBG Book Award, Apple and Rain
Shortlisted for the 2015 Carnegie Award, Apple and Rain
Shortlisted for the 2013 Carnegie Award, The Weight of Water
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
It's been 10 years since 17-year old Joe has seen his older brother, Ed, who is on death row for murder. After Ed's execution date is set, Joe travels to Wakeling, Tex., to be near him in his final weeks. As his brother vehemently denies his guilt and hopes for a stay of execution, Joe, lonely in an unfamiliar place, reflects on their difficult childhood; the good-hearted, protective Ed of his memories; and the shadowed, convicted murderer he sees daily. Crossan (One) masterfully portrays Joe's intense feelings of confusion, anger, and abandonment through conversational, fluid free verse, with thoughtful rhythm and line breaks. Joe and even Ed are sympathetic characters, and readers may shudder at memories of their mother's neglect and the guilt-by-association Joe experiences as a relative of a convicted felon and death-row inmate. New relationships with Wakeling locals, all of whom have an attachment to the prison, allow Joe a retreat from the heaviness of his thoughts and room to recognize important truths: "We aren't the worst things we did / or the worst things that happen to us. / We're other stuff too." Ages 14 up.
