more from Carolyn Coman

A father and daughter confront each other and their own wounds in a land of loss and reconciliation.

Honors

Trudi Birger Prize Honor Book

Tayshas High School Reading List —Texas Library Association

Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book

National Book Award Finalist

ALA Best Books for Young Adults

Top Choice List —Children's Literature

CCBC Choices

Editors' Choice Top of the List —Booklist

Lasting Connections —Book Links

SLJ Best Books

Books for the Teen Age —NYPL

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist

Editor's Hardcover Fiction Choice List —KLIATT

Reviews

 “Coman has deftly woven together the themes of death, grieving, and reconciliation through the characters and setting of this emotionally elegant novel.”
     —School Library Journal

 “In plain words, as hard as stones, this small, riveting book connects the anguish in one family with the struggle of a country to come to terms with its savage past.”
     —Booklist

 “It’s an uplifting tale: harsh, complex, but lit at the end by a promise of reconciliation.”
     —Kirkus Reviews

“You read this small book in one breathless rush to the end, then go back and back again and find more to think about each time.”
     —New York Times Book Review

“There is gripping writing here, from the lightning-quick portraits of passing players to the descriptions of South Africa to the convincingly clipped conversations between daughter and father. And most important, the protagonist’s emotional complexities seem uncannily true to life.”
     —Publishers Weekly

“R Coman etches with telling clarity Berry’s stormy ambivalence, delicately and deliberately picking out the authentic adolescent hypervigilance. Recommended.”
     —Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

“A deeply moving story.”
     —Financial Times (London)

about the author

Carolyn Coman was born in Evanston, Illinois and graduated from Hampshire College, where she studied writing. She is the author of What Jamie Saw, a Newbery Honor book, and Many Stones, a Michael L. Printz Honor book. These were also National Book Award Finalists. Most recently, Carolyn has published The Big House and its sequel, Sneaking Suspicions, both illustrated by Rob Shepperson. She has been on the faculty of the Vermont College and the Hamline College MFA programs in Writing for Children and Young Adults and now the Whole Novel Workshops conducted under the auspices of the Highlights Foundation. She lives in rural Pennsylvania with her husband and her black dog, Shadow.