Grit: A Novel

by Strom Thacker

Overview

Edgar Award Nominee for Best Young Adult Mystery
• A Kirkus Best Book

Raw and moving, this contemporary realistic debut novel will leave readers of E. Lockhart and Gayle Forman breathless as it unflinchingly unfolds the tragic secrets being kept in a small, deceptively idyllic town.

“Gorgeously written and helmed by a protagonist with an indelibly fierce heart." (starred review from Kirkus)

“Keen plotting, evocative writing, and dynamic characterization make French a writer to watch.” (starred review from Booklist)

Seventeen-year-old Darcy Prentiss has long held the title of “town slut.” She knows how to have a good time, sure, but she isn’t doing anything all the guys haven’t done. But when you’re a girl with a reputation, every little thing that happens seems to keep people whispering—especially when your ex-best friend goes missing.

But if anyone were to look closer at Darcy, they’d realize there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface. Staying out late, hooking up, and telling lies is what Darcy does to forget. Forget about the mysterious disappearance of her friend. Forget about the dark secret she and her cousin Nell share.

Forget about that hazy Fourth of July night. So when someone in town anonymously nominates Darcy to be in the running for Bay Festival Princess—a cruel act only someone with a score to settle would make—all of the things that Darcy wants to keep hidden threaten to erupt in ways she wasn’t prepared to handle…and isn’t sure if she can.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062642561
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	04/03/2018
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

Gillian French’s debut novel, Grit, was an Indie Next List pick and received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and ALA Booklist. She holds a BA in English from the University of Maine and lives in Hermon, Maine, with her husband and sons. To learn more about Gillian, visit her online at www.gillianfrench.com.

Editorial Reviews

Gripping. Complex but patient plotting and evocative prose elevate this moody coming-of-age novel.

The Horn Book

★ “Keen plotting, evocative writing, and dynamic characterization make French a writer to watch.

Booklist (starred review)

Much like Summer’s All the Rage and Smith’s The Way I Used to Be, this [story] explores the damage of a culture that sees women only in regards to their sexual history and not who they are.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Touching, funny, and wise, Grit takes you on a journey you’ll remember long after turning the last page.

Christina Baker Kline

Tough yet tender, Grit explores new things about the girl everyone thinks they know.

Mindy McGinnis

05/15/2017
In small-town Sasanoa, Maine, everyone knows that 17-year-old Darcy Prentiss has a reputation for being easy, that her cousin Nell is beautiful and a little slow, and that a person can make decent money raking blueberries. And although no one knows what happened the previous summer when a girl disappeared, that doesn’t stop the speculation. Some blame migrant workers who help with the berry harvest, and a local cop thinks Darcy knows something: she was once best friends with the missing girl. There is a lot of plot in French’s debut: a creep Darcy hooked up with is harassing her, she’s being romanced by one of his friends, she and Nell are keeping a secret, and there’s the upcoming Bay Festival Princess pageant that Nell dreams of winning. While the mechanics of the story—secrets and lies, an angry girl who turns out to be loyally doing her best—initially feel overfamiliar, Darcy, her family, and the Maine setting come alive, and the ending lands an effective punch as seemingly disparate threads join up. Ages 14–up. Agent: Alice Tasman, Jean V. Naggar Literary. (May)

Publishers Weekly

There are plenty of rumors surrounding Darcy Prentiss; rumors about the parties, boys, and general misbehaving. Her rule-following sister, Mags, and her sweet cousin, Nell, worry about her exploits, and her mother’s patience seems to be running out. None of them understand that the rumors mask a truth worse than any of the things the people in her small Maine town believe about her. When someone nominates her for the Bay Festival Princess, probably as a cruel joke, her careful balance of deceptions protecting the truth threatens to tumble around her. French’s debut novel slowly builds in intensity as more pieces of the truth come to light one by one, creating suspense that will keep readers turning pages. Darcy is a complex character, loyal and protective of those she loves, while reckless with her own physical and emotional safety. Her first-person narrative is well suited to allowing readers inside her head to understand her insecurities, though sophisticated readers will see there is a group of characters quietly offering their support when she is ready to accept it. Give this to fans of candid, character-driven novels like Laurie Halse Anderson’s The Impossible Knife Of Memory (Penguin Random House, 2014/Voya February 2014). Reviewer: Heather Christensen; Ages 15 to 18.

VOYA, June 2017 (Vol. 40, No. 2) - Heather Christensen

05/01/2017
Gr 9 Up—Darcy is a raker—she harvests blueberries at the Wardwell Farm alongside migrant farmworkers in Sansoa, ME. It's not true that nothing ever happens in a small town: in this one, "MISSING" posters depicting Darcy's friend Rhiannon hang from every telephone pole on Main Street, and Darcy's cousin Nell thinks she has fallen in love with a teacher, which no one but Darcy knows about. Lacking the means to leave, the teen falls into risky behavior—excessive drinking and hooking up—with the wild Kat; when love interest Jesse pulls her away from that crowd, Darcy doesn't understand why the first thing on his mind is not sex. He's a good guy, and Darcy's mother, Sarah, is also first-rate. She remembers being wild herself and what it cost their family: Darcy's father fell off a high beam to his death before he was 40 because he couldn't resist a dare. Sarah is a good parent and a refreshing change from the stereotypical "bad" mother of a "bad" kid. Rhiannon's disappearance is a mystery: Did she run away a year ago because she, too, wanted to get out of Sansoa, or is she dead? The town thinks the latter, and the protagonist doesn't know for sure, but readers of this excellent teen drama will find out a thing or two before deciding for themselves. This page-turner will hold the interest of mystery fans. VERDICT A strong choice for most collections.—Georgia Christgau, Middle College High School, Long Island City, NY

School Library Journal

★ 2017-03-06
A girl with a reputation grapples with the secrets of last summer.The summer before her senior year, white teen Darcy Prentiss, her sister Mags, and their cognitively disabled cousin Nell harvest blueberries alongside the seasonal Latino migrants in the eastern Maine heat, working hard to save money. But trouble keeps finding Darcy; she has a reputation, and she's used to rumors swirling around her. It's not just rumors about boys, although a white boy named Shea needles endlessly about a mistake she made with him last Fourth of July—there's also Rhiannon, her ex-friend, who went missing last summer. A police officer starts coming around, suspicious of Darcy's every move. Though Darcy doesn't know what happened to Rhiannon, she harbors a different secret about the night the girl went missing, one that could tear apart her family if it got out. Darcy juggles her self-appointed task of defending her cousin, the watchful eye of the law, and Shea's escalating harassment, all while falling for a fellow white blueberry harvester and begrudgingly participating in the town's Bay Festival pageant. She's tough and a fierce protector of what she holds dear, but something has to give. Small-town claustrophobia makes it difficult to define who she is for herself, but rumors, secrets, and even trauma are no match for Darcy's grit. The mysteries of the previous summer weave together beautifully, and the fallout is achingly real. Gorgeously written and helmed by a protagonist with an indelibly fierce heart. (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews