Dana Reinhardt's (The Summer I Learned to Fly) gripping, realistic novel tells of two sisters, Nell and Layla Golden--so connected that as a child, Nell thought her name was Nellayla--whose relationship unravels because of a secret.
Nell's first-person narrative addresses Layla directly. A sense of foreboding and a pulsing urgency permeates the book as Nell recalls the signs that pointed to trouble: Layla's charcoal self-portrait with "sorrowful, faraway eyes" and a sculpture that was "a little too generous in the breast department if you'd asked me.... I wondered if that was who you wished you were and how you could ever want to be anything other than who you are." Nell begins at the start of her freshman year at City Day, where Layla is a junior, a star soccer player and is known for having "a good head on her shoulders." Nell makes the team, too, despite the teasing of her best friend, Felix De La Cruz ("So that's what you've decided to be... the jock?... Didn't you get the memo that this is a hipster-urban high school?"). Layla is not acting like herself, and tension simmers between the sisters. Nell keeps mum about her concerns, not even sharing them with Felix. But then rumors begin to fly around the school, as they do every year, that cool Mr. Barr, the Intro to Visual Arts teacher, is involved with a student. Only this time, the rumors point to Layla.
Dana Reinhardt homes in on that transition when a teen begins dabbling in adult matters, before she's ready. The author's choice to tell the story from Nell's point of view places readers in the position of the conscience in this situation. What is your responsibility when you identify a situation that you believe is wrong and potentially harmful to someone you love? Is your responsibility to keep her secret? Or to protect her, perhaps against her wishes? Reinhardt demonstrates the collateral damage, as Nell lives with a burden that creates a divide not only between her and Layla but also between Nell and her parents, and Nell and Felix. Their parents are divorced but not neglectful, present but distracted. Nell, meanwhile, is going through her own adjustments in high school. She has her first crush on the lead in the school play, and also becomes the subject of rumors, and her relationship with Felix begins to shift as he grapples with his own challenges. Reinhart beautifully captures the messy passage from adolescence to adulthood, with part of Nell wanting to stay the child, free of responsibilities, while the other part knows she must follow her own moral compass in order to grow up. Reinhardt gets this delicate balance just right, and will leave readers thinking long after the last page. --Jennifer M. Brown
Shelf Talker: The intimacy between two sisters is threatened when the younger one believes her older sister is in a situation that could harm her.