Description

"This work's thoughtful, delicate prose paves a promising way for future installments." - Kirkus Reviews

Beth Lawrence was a preppy tomboy who would never be a debutante.

A sensitive outsider in search of love and belonging she was raised by stoic older parents; abusive older siblings; and unspoken intergenerational trauma with a family history of alcoholism. She found solace in books; her friends; and the holidays and summers when she got to see Hope and Little Will, and compete in sailboat races on Narraganset Bay with Kim.

Always compared to her perfect older brother George, she studied hard, got good grades and finally learned how to stand up to bullies.

In July of 1979, her parents suddenly sold everything, and moved to a small isolated town in rural New Hampshire. Like a piece of furniture, they lifted her out of the only life and home she had ever known without explanation.

At 14, alone and insecure at home and in the world, Beth continued to search for identity, love and belonging. In the face of grief and loss and sudden death, she struggled to cope and find ways to orient herself in this big unfurling pattern of the unfamiliar.

In her encounters with different people, she made new friends; fell for Toby; and learned that everyone, even the people she idolized all have challenges and demons they must face.