Publisher Description

A year after her mother's death, sixteen-year-old Sidonie still spends sleepless nights playing cards with her cat, Bogie. During the day she lies around and reads under the nose of her nineteen-year-old sister, Roberta, who angrily scrubs floors that are already clean and cooks meals that are inedible. Their father, a doctor, comes home when he is too exhausted to remain at work. Only the jazz piano-playing of Roberta's new boyfriend, Phil, brings some relief to the long hot summer.Then Kieran, an angry sixteen-year-old stranger, comes to their lakeside community. Sidonie discovers that he isn't easy to ignore, and in the weeks that follow, her growing attraction to him is accompanied by more frequent, powerful memories of her mother.

Author Biography

MARTHA BROOKS is an award-winning novelist, playwright and jazz singer whose books have been published in Spain, Italy, Japan, Denmark, England, Germany and Australia, as well as in Canada and the United States. She is a three-time winner of the Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book of the Year, as well as the Ruth Schwartz Award, the Mr. Christie's Book Award, the Governor General's Award, and the Vicky Metcalf Award for her body of work. She lives in Edmonton, Alberta.

Review

The pages fly by quickly because the people, their struggles and their strengths hold your interest. This is a very successful treatment of a challenging theme. * Toronto Star *
...[Brooks] approaches life's events, both large and small, with intelligence, patience and remarkable insight. * Children's Book News *
A book that belongs on the shelf with the few but essential novels that are both intelligently written and appealing to YA audiences. * School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW *
The writing is sensitive and believable, the characterizations absorbing, the voice strong. * Literature and Language *

Long Description

There were two moons last August -- one that was almost full at the beginning when More was alive and our lives were normal, and then a big full cheater moon at the end, one that looked down so beautifully on the world, when everything was awful and changed and never would be the same again".A year after her mother's death, 16-year-old Sidonie still spends sleepless nights playing cards with her cat, Bogey. During the day she lies around and reads under the nose of her 19-year-old sister, Roberta, who angrily scrubs floors that are already clean and cooks meals that are inedible. Their father, a doctor, comes home only when he is too exhausted to stay at work any longer. Only the jazz piano playing of Roberta's boyfriend, Phil, brings some relief to the long, hot summer. Then Kieran, a 16-year-old boy, comes to their lakeside community and Sidonie begins to discover what she needs to pull her life and family together again.Martha Brooks skillfully re-creates the world of 1959 in the small town of Bison Valley and reveals the joys and pains of adolescence in this moving and often humorous novel about healing and hope. As Sidonie struggles with her on-again, off-again friendship with her sister, her loneliness at her father's frequent absences, her memories of her mother and her mother's distant sisters, and her antipathy and attraction for Kieran. Brooks deftly explores the themes of mourning, family, friendship, and love."...the shimmering, sleepy midwestern atmosphere is just plain luscious". -- Publishers Weekly"A book that belongs on the shelf with the few, but essential, novels that are both intelligently written and appealing to YA audiences". -- School LibraryJournal"A deeply engaging story, to be savored and reread". -- Kirkus Reviews

Review Text

The pages fly by quickly because the people, their struggles and their strengths hold your interest. This is a very successful treatment of a challenging theme.

Review Quote

"A book that belongs on the shelf with the few but essential novels that are both intelligently written and appealing to YA audiences." -- School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW

Details