Summary
Anna can’t believe she’s living at her dad’s house. He had gotten engaged to Marnie before her parents’ divorce was even final. And their baby appeared soon after their wedding. She’d done a careful job of avoiding sleeping there. Daytime visits only. Anything else felt disloyal to her mother. But that was before.
Before her mother tried to kill herself and ended up in the hospital.
And when it rains, it pours. Anna has also lost her best friend. She’s stuck at school hanging out with the weird kids. It seems like everyone – other parents, teachers at school – is talking about Anna’s mom. And Marnie’s trying too hard with Anna, making her feel suffocated.
It all leaves Anna feeling lost and adrift. But help will arrive from places she least expects.
Review
I pulled this from a middle grade pile on my bookshelf, but when I looked the book up, the publishing information says this is for teens. I was confused. Anna is only 13 in this story – young for a teen book. And while her processing of all the things feels appropriate for 13, it also feels young for a teen/YA book. It might be a good fit for the new “Older Middle Grade” category for readers 10 to 14. But there’s some mature content – some swearing, Anna hears her dad and step-mom having sex, etc. – things you don’t generally find in middle grade books. All of this made it hard for me to get a good grasp on this one. Who exactly is this book for?
That aside, I loved the story. My heart broke for Anna. The near suicide is a huge stressor, but there’s so much MORE going on:
- The unspoken things between Anna and her dad and the ways she has felt abandoned by him, left to care for her mom on her own.
- Anna’s fears of finding her mother dead.
- Anna’s memories of her mom’s manic episodes as she learns about Bipolar 2.
- Anna’s shame about her mom’s illness.
- The loss of her best friend.
All of these things are conveyed SO well. I was rooting for Anna through the whole book – that she would make new and better friends, that she would see her step-mother as an ally, and that she would share the burden of her mom’s illness with someone. There’s a great happy-for-now wrap up to this that was so satisfying.
Find the right audience and this will be a hit with readers. I loved it! (Language, sexual references, references to Wicca, CW: Suicide)