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A sensitive story of an adolescent girl uncovering her past and discovering the possibilities for her future. For twelve-year-old Roxanne, there are two things in life she can count on: her beloved grandmother, Mimi, and her weekend job at the flea market where she helps Mimi buy and sell fresh produce and other people’s junk to pay the household bills. This is her home and the people she knows and loves are here. But outside this fragile weekend world, she’s lost. A so-so student with few aspirations for higher education, she feels out of place at school. Stuck in the back of the pack with the other “lardbutts,” Rox just tries to stay out of the way of the popular creeps in her class. And who is she anyway? Her teenage mother left when she was only three months old and her father’s identity is a mystery. And no one, least of all Mimi, will talk about what happened. But then her cousin John Martin brings home a girlfriend from college who has very different ideas about the way life works. And when Roxanne discovers her mother’s teenage diary, she finds some painful but important answers to the unsolved questions of her past and the possibilities for a different future. With gentle wit and an uncanny sensitivity, author Adrian Fogelin captures the fragility of life’s certainties in this moving novel of an adolescent girl’s struggles to find her way in the world.
When Roxanne discovers her absent mother's teenage diary, she finds some painful but important answers to the unsolved questions of her past and possibilities for a different future. For twelve-year-old Rox, there are two things in life she can count on: her beloved grandmother, Mimi, and her weekend job at the flea market. But outside this fragile weekend world, she's lost. A so-so student with few aspirations for higher education, she feels out of place at school. And who is she anyway? Her teenage mother left when she was only three months old and her father's identity is a mystery. And no one, least of all Mimi, will talk about what happened. But then her cousin John Martin brings home a girlfriend from college who has very different ideas about the way life works. And when Rox discovers her mother's teenage diary, she begins discovering some answers to her own past and her future. With gentle wit and an uncanny sensitivity, author Adrian Fogelin captures the fragility of life's certainties in this moving novel of an adolescent girl's struggles to find her way in the world.
Twelve-year-old Rox and her grandmother Mimi sell at a flea market every weekend to supplement the family's only income, that of construction worker and college student, cousin John Martin.
With his stunning debut novel, She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb won the adulation of critics and readers with his mesmerizing tale of one woman's painful yet triumphant journey of self-discovery. Now, this brilliantly talented writer returns with I Know This Much Is True, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal--this novel is a contemporary retelling of an ancient Hindu myth. A proud king must confront his demons to achieve salvation. Change yourself, the myth instructs, and you will inhabit a renovated world. When you're the same brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your bands--the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you're into both survival of the fittest and being your brother's keeper--if you've promised your dying mother--then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night. Grab a book or a beer. Get used to Letterman's gap-toothed smile of the absurd, or the view of the bedroom ceiling, or the influence of random selection. Take it from a godless insomniac. Take it from the uncrazy twin--the guy who beat the biochemical rap. Dominick Birdsey's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both deeply loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a spit-and-polish ex-Navy man (the five-foot-six-inch sleeping giant who snoozed upstairs weekdays in the spare room and built submarines at night), and their long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip that made her shy and self-conscious: She holds a loose fist to her face to cover her defective mouth--her perpetual apology to the world for a birth defect over which she'd had no control. Born in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950, the twins are physical mirror images who grow into separate yet connected entities: the seemingly strong and protective yet fearful Dominick, his mother's watchful "monkey"; and the seemingly weak and sweet yet noble Thomas, his mother's gentle "bunny." From childhood, Dominick fights for both separation and wholeness--and ultimately self-protection--in a house of fear dominated by Ray, a bully who abuses his power over these stepsons whose biological father is a mystery. I was still afraid of his anger but saw how he punished weakness--pounced on it. Out of self-preservation I hid my fear, Dominick confesses. As for Thomas, he just never knew how to play defense. He just didn't get it. But Dominick's talent for survival comes at an enormous cost, including the breakup of his marriage to the warm, beautiful Dessa, whom he still loves. And it will be put to the ultimate test when Thomas, a Bible-spouting zealot, commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives. To save himself, Dominick must confront not only the pain of his past but the dark secrets he has locked deep within himself, and the sins of his ancestors--a quest that will lead him beyond the confines of his blue-collar New England town to the volcanic foothills of Sicily 's Mount Etna, where his ambitious and vengefully proud grandfather and a namesake Domenico Tempesta, the sostegno del famiglia, was born. Each of the stories Ma told us about Papa reinforced the message that he was the boss, that he ruled the roost, that what he said went. Searching for answers, Dominick turns to the whispers of the dead, to the pages of his grandfather's handwritten memoir, The History of Domenico Onofrio Tempesta, a Great Man from Humble Beginnings. Rendered with touches of magic realism, Domenico's fablelike tale--in which monkeys enchant and religious statues weep--becomes the old man's confession--an unwitting legacy of contrition that reveals the truth's of Domenico's life, Dominick learns that power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and now, picking through the humble shards of his deconstructed life, he will search for the courage and love to forgive, to expiate his and his ancestors' transgressions, and finally to rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his twin. Set against the vivid panoply of twentieth-century America and filled with richly drawn, memorable characters, this deeply moving and thoroughly satisfying novel brings to light humanity's deepest needs and fears, our aloneness, our desire for love and acceptance, our struggle to survive at all costs. Joyous, mystical, and exquisitely written, I Know This Much Is True is an extraordinary reading experience that will leave no reader untouched.
From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Sweet Thing and Nowhere But Here comes a love story about a Craigslist “missed connection” post that gives two people a second chance at love fifteen years after they were separated in New York City. To the Green-eyed Lovebird: We met fifteen years ago, almost to the day, when I moved my stuff into the NYU dorm room next to yours at Senior House. You called us fast friends. I like to think it was more. We lived on nothing but the excitement of finding ourselves through music (you were obsessed with Jeff Buckley), photography (I couldn’t stop taking pictures of you), hanging out in Washington Square Park, and all the weird things we did to make money. I learned more about myself that year than any other. Yet, somehow, it all fell apart. We lost touch the summer after graduation when I went to South America to work for National Geographic. When I came back, you were gone. A part of me still wonders if I pushed you too hard after the wedding… I didn’t see you again until a month ago. It was a Wednesday. You were rocking back on your heels, balancing on that thick yellow line that runs along the subway platform, waiting for the F train. I didn’t know it was you until it was too late, and then you were gone. Again. You said my name; I saw it on your lips. I tried to will the train to stop, just so I could say hello. After seeing you, all of the youthful feelings and memories came flooding back to me, and now I’ve spent the better part of a month wondering what your life is like. I might be totally out of my mind, but would you like to get a drink with me and catch up on the last decade and a half? M
Award-winning author Adrian Fogelin’s latest book for middle readers follows an unlikely but enduring friendship that is forged between two adolescent girls. Anna Casey likes living in North Florida with biology teacher Miss Johnette, her latest foster mother. Best of all, Miss J wants to adopt Anna. Still, it is hard to grow into a new family, a new life, and a new school all at once, especially when you’ve been rootless nearly all of your life. Mica Delano likes living aboard her sailboat, the Martina, which is docked at a marina in the Florida Keys. Best of all, the marina’s owners, whom she calls Aunt Emma and Uncle Bert, try hard to make up for the sometimes inattentive parenting she gets from her marine biologist father. But Mica fears that her restless father will soon pull anchor, taking them away from the safety of Bert’s Marina. A chance correspondence between these two girls separated by the length of the state of Florida becomes a flourishing friendship. As they share their love of nature, each helps the other cope with uncertainty and loneliness and profound change. Mica enrolls in public school for the first time since first grade and suffers the agony of trying to fit in. Anna must make room in her heart for a possible rival when her beloved foster mother becomes serious about a suitor. In the end, Anna and Mica save each other and themselves with hope, humor, and a shared love of the natural world.
This moving, coming-of-age story follows a young white girl who overcomes family prejudice and cultural differences when she befriends a black girl in a small working-class town Twelve-year-old Cassie narrates the dramatic events that unfold when Jemmie, an African-American girl, and her family move in next door. Despite their parents’ deeply held prejudice against each other’s family—exemplified by the fence Cassie’s father builds between their two houses—the girls find they share more similarities than differences. Mutual interests in reading and running draw them together, and their wariness of each other disappears. But when their parents find out about the burgeoning friendship, each girl is forbidden to see the other. A family crisis and celebration provide opportunities for the families to reach an understanding. Author Adrian Fogelin addresses the complex issues of bigotry and tolerance with sensitivity and intelligence. Readers will find her story of how two adolescent girls, through their own example, teach racial tolerance to the adults in a small Florida town powerful and compelling.
This sensitive and often humorous book tells the story of an adolescent boy who begins to find himself after the people he has always depended on let him down. Alone. That’s how thirteen-year-old Justin feels these days. His older brother Duane has left home, enlisting in the Army, and his father has walked out, maybe for good this time. His mom is too depressed to get out of bed, much less pay the bills and keep food in the refrigerator. And if that’s not enough, his best buddy Ben has a new girlfriend and no longer has time to hang out. There’s not much left for Justin to do but to put his brain in neutral and slide into the state he calls “the Big Nothing.” But slowly Justin discovers he has more resources than he thinks. With the help of his classmate Jemmie and her grandmother, Nana Grace, he learns that underneath all the noisy confusion in his brain lies a talent for music. As he spends time with Jemmie, he begins to understand how simple notes make complex music, and how simple feelings can turn into deep emotions. Award-winning author Adrian Fogelin once again offers readers an emotionally charged story featuring a sympathetic adolescent trying to make sense of the people and world around him.
When Fish tries to escape from the responsibilities of his overachieving life, he gains a new understanding of the dangers of neglecting his connections and commitments to others For Fisher Brown, bearing the responsibility for the well-being and happiness of the people around him is a heavy burden to shoulder. Not long after his mother’s sudden departure, Fisher lost interest in school and was well on his way to becoming a classic underachiever at school. But now—under the strict supervision of his high school counselor father—he is jockeying for position at the top of his high school class. It’s a challenging role, and one he has doubts about. But as long as Fisher single-mindedly prepares for college and practices for the SATs, he can keep his father happy. So when Fisher meets Lonnie Traynor, whose rootless, carefree existence is so markedly different from his own, he is drawn to his take-life-as-it-comes attitude. Lonnie easily cons him into accompanying him on a weekend outing that turns into an extended road trip. But Lonnie’s footloose ways reveal a troubled man with a long history of letting down the people he loves. As Fisher becomes an unwitting participant in Lonnie’s hapless adventure, he begins to rethink what it means to be responsible for other people. In the end Fisher finds his way home as well as a way to redefine his own complex relationships.
A powerful ring. A dangerous web. When Maria inherits a strange, spider-shaped ring from her grandmother, she doesn't realize she's also inheriting a strange power -- the power to control spiders and have them do whatever she wants. This is a pretty cool thing when it comes to fetching objects from another room . . . or if Maria wants to use the spiders to get back at some mean kids in her class. But the power comes with a price. Maria has attracted the attention of the Black Widow -- who is trying to collect all the spider magic for herself. The Black Widow is not going to let anything stand in her way -- especially not Maria.The story of the ring is being woven like a web -- and Maria is going to have to do everything she can to not get trapped within it.