Don't Blame the Music
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
In Caroline B. Cooney’s powerful novel about love, independence, and responsibility, a prodigal daughter returns—and a high school senior and her family must cope with the fallout
Things are starting to come together for seventeen-year-old Susan Hall. She has great friends and a major crush on handsome, privileged Anthony Fielding, who has finally begun to show some interest. And she was just asked to be music editor of the yearbook.
Suddenly, her older sister comes home. Ashley ran away at sixteen to join a rock band. For an impossibly short time, her star burned bright. She had a hit song. Now she’s back, filled with bitterness and anger. She hates her parents. She hates her younger sister. But most of all, she hates herself.
As Ashley’s self-destructive behavior starts tearing the family apart, Susan’s life changes in unexpected ways. It becomes harder to maintain her equilibrium, both at school and at home. She still loves her sister, but she’s starting to see things—and people, like Whit, an outcast rock musician—in a different light.
With charity, grace, and a generous heart, Caroline B. Cooney gives us an immensely moving story about what it means to be a family.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cooney has written a shattering novel about the power of one person to control and tear apart a family. Susan is a high school senior when her older sister Ashley rolls back into townAshley, whose musical success launched her on the road to superstardom. But Ashley's bright light dimmed, and she ignored everyone and everything in pursuit of fame. Her parents, who just want their daughter back, welcome her. Yet Susan, from the beginning, senses that something is terribly wrong. Ashley vents her anger from years of frustration in violent tirades. Though Susan tries to stay involved in school and in mundane matters, she finds herself and her family sucked into Ashley's hate. In one horrible scene Ashley tries to light Susan on fire after soaking her with gasoline. She finally agrees to commit herself to getting help. Cooney's observant eye and sharply humorous tone, edged with irony, makes this a stunning departure from her earlier, lighter novels; this is one of the season's best works of YA fiction. (12-up)
