A Song to Take the World Apart
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
What if you could make someone love you back, just by singing to them? Fans of Sarah McCarry's All Our Pretty Songs and Leslye Walton’s The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender will be captivated by this contemporary love story with hints of magical realism.
Hanging out with Chris was supposed to make Lorelei’s life normal. He’s cooler, he’s older, and he’s in a band, which means he can teach her about the music that was forbidden in her house growing up. Her grandmother told her when she was little that she was never allowed to sing, but listening to someone else do it is probably harmless—right?
The more she listens, though, the more keenly she can feel her own voice locked up in her throat, and how she longs to use it. And as she starts exploring the power her grandmother never wanted her to discover, influencing Chris and everyone around her, the foundations of Lorelei’s life start to crumble. There’s a reason the women in her family never want to talk about what their voices can do.
And a reason Lorelei can’t seem to stop herself from singing anyway.
"Zan Romanoff’s music-saturated debut will snare readers with its melodic, pop-punk hooks and elegant riffs on growing up, falling in love, and letting go." —Sarah McCarry, author of All Our Pretty Songs
"Family secrets, first love, and the elemental, raw power of music are all on display in Zan Romanoff's gorgeous novel. A Song To Take the World Apart gives us a heroine who's as fierce as she is vulnerable, and a story that's as page-turning as it is profound. An enchanting and beautiful debut." Edan Lepucki, New York Times bestselling author of California
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The transition from a child into a young adult is rarely easy; Romanoff's debut addresses the depth and breadth of love, friendship, and choice, blending them with a touch of fantasy to underscore the struggles inherent in growing up and growing wiser. Lorelei, a high school sophomore, has been raised in a quiet Los Angeles home devoid of music, thanks to Oma, her grandmother. Even though Lorelei has older brothers and parents living under the same roof, they all seem to be perfect strangers orbiting Oma. When Lorelei's desire to sing can no longer be contained, and tragedy descends on the home, her life veers out of her control. The introspective third-person narrative dwells in Lorelei's psychological landscape: despite the headiness of a handsome senior taking notice of her and the terrifying joy of pressing boundaries and keeping secrets, Lorelei can't escape her sense of isolation. While Romanoff's writing is elegant and evocative, the story falls just short of inspiring a sense of wonder where Lorelei's supernatural discoveries are concerned, instead circling moodily around the difficulties of maturing. Ages 12 up.