From Printz Honor winner and Morris Award finalist Jessie Ann Foley comes a comitragic YA novel that will appeal to fans of Jandy Nelson and Jeff Zentner.
As the youngest of eight, painfully average Pup Flanagan is used to flying under the radar. He's barely passing his classes. He lets his longtime crush walk all over him. And he's in no hurry to decide on a college path.
The only person who ever made him think he could be more was his older brother Patrick. But that was before Patrick died suddenly, leaving Pup with a family who won't talk about it and acquaintances who just keep saying, "sorry for your loss."
When Pup excels at a photography assignment he thought he'd bomb, things start to come into focus. His dream girl shows her true colors. An unexpected friend exposes Pup to a whole new world, right under his nose.
And the photograph that was supposed to show Pup a way out of his grief ultimately reveals someone else who is still stuck in their own. Someone with a secret regret Pup never could have imagined.
Winner of the 2020-2021 North Star YA Award
Named to YALSA's Best Fiction for Young Adults List
- Coming of Age: Follows painfully average Pup Flanagan as he navigates a family that won’t talk, a love life that’s a total mess, and the surprising discovery of a passion he never knew he had.
- Grief and Loss: A raw and heartfelt look at what happens after the casseroles stop coming and everyone stops saying "sorry for your loss"-leaving Pup to face his brother’s absence alone.
- YA Contemporary Romance: With his longtime crush showing her true colors, it’s an unexpected friendship with a fellow photographer that shows Pup what it really means to be seen.
- Complex Family Dynamics: Pup isn’t the only one struggling. A single photograph reveals that his other brother, Luke, is hiding a devastating secret of his own, tangled in regret and alcohol.
“Well-delineated characters and Foley’s subtle hand distinguish this moving novel.”