March 6, 2017
This nuanced novel highlights the struggle to trust an adoptive family after a traumatic history in foster care. Even as 11-year-old narrator Flora and her younger brother settle into a comfortable life with adoptive parents, they think of themselves as the “Onlys”: “Julian and me, the only steady things in the constantly shifting universe.” Both siblings are dealing with the aftereffects of trauma, with Julian hoarding food and Flora struggling to pass fourth grade. The relationship between Flora and her “Person” (how she thinks of her adoptive mother) is especially compelling, and Carter (My Life with the Liars) believably illustrates that although the term “Person” sounds detached, it actually denotes a special status among Flora’s many foster mothers. Flora’s theories about her true origins, which appear between chapters, poignantly underscore her difficulty wrangling with a fractured history (“We came from the chaos, my brother and me. We were born out of the screams of other kids”). Carter’s layered narrative—which also touches on divorce, stepfamilies, and welcoming a new baby—doesn’t shy from pain as it testifies to resilience and the expansive power of love. Ages 8–12. Agent: Kate McKean, Howard Morhaim Literary.