For ten years Edie Fraser has been, and is again, leaving
her home and
beloved cat, Peaches, behind. She and her mother Sydney
have been
leaving pieces of themselves in their wake with each
sudden move. From
Toronto their new emergency evacuation takes them to
London, the city
her mother grew up in. Running from her physically and
emotionally
abusive father, they are never in one place long enough to
call it home.
Edie barely begins to befriend a couple of girls when her
mother fails to
return home from her job after the first night of work.
After a few days
she steals money from her homeroom that has been collected
for a
special donation, in hopes this will carry her through the
search for her
mother, fearing her father has found them. What she
hasn't counted on is
Jermaine Lewis, a black student shunned at the school, to
be blamed for
the theft. Jermaine was there when she stole the money
over lunch
period and immediately knows she is the culprit when the
theft is
revealed, but chooses not to identify her, taking the
blame instead. When
confronting Edie she eventually confides in him and they
take to the road
in a search leading through nicer parts of London as well
as the lowest
slums, evading the police who are now searching for them.
Devastation
and heroics are both a part of what they find in their
quest.
This tale of a fifteen-year-old girl and mother on the run
is a devastatingly
emotional story. The reader can't help but get caught up
in the
desperation and despair of this girl and her mother.
Though a tragic
situation, understanding and survival are lessons to be
learned. I enjoyed
that SINCE YOU'VE BEEN GONE kept me on the edge of my seat
with each new situation
faced by Edie and Jermaine. The story was well written
and easy to
follow. Morgan Matson is a gifted writer even though the
topic itself, while
definitely a part of reality, is depressing.
How do you learn to love again? In one tragic moment,
Holly
Jefferson's life as she knew it changed forever. Now to
the
external world, at least she's finally getting back on her
feet, running her bakery, Cake. But inside, she's still
going through the motions befitting a twenty-seven-year-
old
widow. Then she meets Ciaran Argyll.
His privileged and
charmed life feels a million miles from her own. However,
there's more to Ciaran than the superficial world that
surrounds him, and he, too, is wrestling with his own
ghosts. Will Holly find the missing ingredient that allows
her to live again and embrace an unknown and unexpected
tomorrow?
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