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Table of Contents
About The Book
“A thought-provoking examination of familial love.” —Booklist
“A great coming-of-age story for fans of…Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist…and Thanks for the Trouble.” —School Library Journal
After Charlotte’s father is kidnapped, she and her mother must overcome their differences and find a way to rescue him in this eloquent, moving portrayal of family from the author of William C. Morris Award finalist Tell Me Something Real.
In search of the perfect story to put a human face on a tragedy, Charlotte’s reporter dad will fly into the eye of a storm. And now he’s heading to Ukraine, straight into the aftermath of a deadly earthquake. Charlotte doesn’t want him to leave. She doesn’t want to spend the week alone in a silent house with her mother, whose classically Russian reserve has built a wall between them that neither knows how to tear down.
Charlotte is holding it together okay—until the FBI comes knocking on her door. Her father has been taken hostage! The quake has left so many orphans and widows, but Charlotte refuses to be counted among them. Whatever it takes to get her dad back, she’ll do it. Even if it means breaking a promise…or the law.
“A great coming-of-age story for fans of…Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist…and Thanks for the Trouble.” —School Library Journal
After Charlotte’s father is kidnapped, she and her mother must overcome their differences and find a way to rescue him in this eloquent, moving portrayal of family from the author of William C. Morris Award finalist Tell Me Something Real.
In search of the perfect story to put a human face on a tragedy, Charlotte’s reporter dad will fly into the eye of a storm. And now he’s heading to Ukraine, straight into the aftermath of a deadly earthquake. Charlotte doesn’t want him to leave. She doesn’t want to spend the week alone in a silent house with her mother, whose classically Russian reserve has built a wall between them that neither knows how to tear down.
Charlotte is holding it together okay—until the FBI comes knocking on her door. Her father has been taken hostage! The quake has left so many orphans and widows, but Charlotte refuses to be counted among them. Whatever it takes to get her dad back, she’ll do it. Even if it means breaking a promise…or the law.
About The Author
Photograph © Carolyn Vaughn
Calla Devlin is the author of William C. Morris Award finalist Tell Me Something Real. She’s also a Pushcart nominee and winner of the Best of Blood and Thunder Award whose stories have been included in numerous literary journals and in anthologies, including Because I Love Her: 34 Women Writers Reflect on the Mother-Daughter Bond, for which she was featured in the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Magazine. Visit her at CallaDevlin.com.
Product Details
- Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (September 5, 2017)
- Length: 256 pages
- ISBN13: 9781481487016
- Ages: 14 - 99
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Raves and Reviews
"Charlotte's feelings of helplessness and anxiety over the situation are compounded by her tenuous relationship with her Russian-immigrant mother, whose distance and reserve are the results of old traumas. Charlotte copes by weaving tales from Russian folklore throughout her story as a way of coming to terms with her own personal struggles...An intriguing element."
– Kirkus Reviews, 6/15/17
“Devlin beautifully weaves in Russian folktales, illuminating Charlotte’s complex feelings about her mother. . . . A thought-provoking examination of familial love.”
– Booklist, July 1st, 2017
"Devlin writes a compelling story filled with complex characters. . . . A great coming-of-age story [for fans of] Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn, and Thanks for the Trouble by Tommy Wallach."
– School Library Journal, August 2017
“The writing is fluent and stylish, and Charlotte’s engagement with Russian folklore adds depth to her view of her family’s tragedies past and present. The book is insightful about the delicate equilibrium of families; its portrait of Charlotte’s mother, fierce, self-contained and yet dependent, is original and haunting, and Charlotte’s desperate need for her love is beautifully complicated. The parental abduction plot is suspenseful, but it’s the familial struggle that will really strike a chord with readers.”
– BCCB, September 2017
Awards and Honors
- Kansas NEA Reading Circle List High School Title
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Right Where You Left Me eBook 9781481487016
- Author Photo (jpg): Calla Devlin Photograph © Carolyn Vaughn(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit
