You probably never heard of Nashquitten, Massachusetts. It's a small coastal town and now that the fishing isn't there, getting smaller every year. It's the kind of place most kids can't wait to get out of. But Lucy Anderson won't get that chance. Bright and talented at art, she went to a drinking party and died there. There are rumors all over town about what happened but only a few know the truth.
We hear about Lucy's death and the rumors about that and the teenagers in general through the words of different girls and women. There is Lucy's best friend, the high school guidance counselor, the woman who was having an affair with Lucy's father. Her mother, the head of the PTA, the principal. There is the girl who stayed and tried to help Lucy and the ones that ran away. Each has another piece of the puzzle.
This is a debut novel although it's difficult to accept that such an accomplished work could be a debut. I loved the structure and the way that each woman's or girl's story had a hook that led easily into the next person's story. The death is the framework around which the story is built but there are lots of other stories as well. It's a story of disappointed lives and alienation both from the teenagers and the women who are adults and whose lives didn't turn out as they wanted. This book is recommended for literary fiction readers,
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