Very in Pieces
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- £6.99
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
In this coming-of-age novel perfect for fans of Susane Colasanti and Jandy Nelson, a straight-A student in a family of free-spirited artists must face the hard truths about those she loves most.
Very Sayles-Woodruff could find the value of x with her eyes closed . . . but interpreting her mother's renowned paintings or her famous grandmother's poems don't come as easily. Even her younger sister, Ramona, has the same artistic leanings as the rest of their family. Very has always been the dependable, responsible one—until her grandmother becomes terminally ill, causing all of the pieces of Very's once-structured life to come crashing down. Now she's cast aside her steady boyfriend and started an unexpected fling with Dominic, a rebellious art student with a bad reputation.
Things at home have also taken a turn. Very's mother drinks all day, her father is never around, and Ramona is constantly skipping school. And that's when the sculpture appears. Out of nowhere, a bottle cap design starts climbing up the stucco walls of the Sayles-Woodruff house, mysteriously growing by the day. With her grandmother nearing death and things heating up with Dominic, Very also has to confront the fact that the person behind the sculpture is struggling more than she could have imagined.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mathematically gifted Very Woodruff is likely headed to MIT, and she's also the odd one out in a family of creative types. Her mother is a respected artist, her father is a music professor, her younger sister shows artistic promise, and her grandmother, "Nonnie," is a famous poet. Nonnie's impending death is front and center as Blakemore (Secrets of Truth & Beauty) spins a thoughtful story of a family breaking apart. While the Woodruffs watch Nonnie fade away, Blakemore introduces a touch of mystery when someone begins creating a work of art on the side of the their house in honor of Nonnie. As Nonnie's condition worsens, and Very's father and sister go AWOL, the typically steady Very loses her footing, too. She ends things with her responsible "good guy" boyfriend, Christian, after cheating on him with Dominic, the school's sort-of bad boy. It's a believable and engaging story of the decline of a cherished grandmother and community member, and a girl trying to find her place in her family, her relationship, and life. Ages 13 up.