Winner of the U.S. National Book Award 2017 for Young People's Literature!

'Sometimes, family hurts each other. But after that’s done you bandage each other up, and you move on. Together. So you can go and think that you’re some lone wolf, but you’re not. You’ve got us now, like it or not, and we’ve got you.'

When 16 year-old Grace gives up her baby for adoption, she decides that the time has come to find out more about her own biological mother. Although her biological mum proves elusive, her search leads her to two half-siblings she never knew existed. 

Maya, 15, has been adopted by wealthy parents and seems to have the picture-perfect family – that is, if you look past her alcoholic mother and the fact that Maya stands out like a sore thumb. 

Older brother, Joaquin, hasn’t been so lucky. At 18, he’s shuffled between foster home after foster home, always careful never to get attached to anyone or anything, because it always gets taken away. 

When these three siblings come together, they find in themselves the place they can belong, while the secrets they guard threaten to explode...

About Robin Benway

Robin Benway is a National Book Award finalist and the author of novels for young adults, including Emmy & Oliver. Her books have received numerous awards and recognition. She currently lives in Los Angeles, where she spends her time hanging out with her dog, Hudson, making coffee, and procrastinating on writing.

Reviews

Benway’s unforgettable novel explores the paradoxes and entanglements of unconventional families… It’s a melodrama, to be sure, but with as much brain as heart. Benway writes with remarkable control and has the rare talent of almost vanishing as an author as she inhabits each character’s perspective. The New York Times

In the eloquent confidence of its life-embracing argument, the book really is something special. The Wall Street Journal

Equally heartwarming and heart-wrenching... Benway delves into the souls of these characters as they wrestle to overcome feelings of inadequacy, abandonment, and betrayal, gradually coming to understand themselves and each other. Publishers Weekly

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