The Book of Laney

by Myfanwy Collins

Overview

Here and now I am in this place far away from my home. Here, with the cold wind blowing down from the north and the stars piercing through the cloudless sky. Here I am.

But my story does not start here.

My story starts months ago and hundreds of miles south of where I am now. My story starts in the place I used to call home. My story starts with violence and heartbreak.

After her brother is involved in a grisly murder-suicide, fifteen-year-old Laney is sent to live with her grandmother in the Adirondack Mountains. Laney gradually warms to her new home—especially her relationship with a mysterious neighbor—but before she can appreciate her new life, she must uncover the secrets that have haunted her family for decades.

Myfanwy Collins was born in Montreal but moved to the Adirondack Mountains in New York when she was still a child. She has since lived all over New England and worked as a waitress, a bartender, a nanny, a chambermaid, a clerk, a high school English teacher, a secretary, a ghost writer, and a traveling worker with Cirque du Soleil. She is the author of a novel, Echolocation, and a collection of short stories, I Am Holding Your Hand.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781938126291
Publisher:	Engine Books
Publication date:	02/23/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	184
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

Myfanwy Collins was born in Montreal but moved to the Adirondack Mountains in New York when she was still a child. She has since lived in all over New England and worked as a waitress, a bartender, a nanny, a chambermaid, a clerk, a high school English teacher, a secretary, a ghost writer, and a traveling worker with the Cirque du Soleil. She is the author of Echolocation, a novel, and a collection of short stories, I Am Holding Your Hand.

Editorial Reviews

"Myfanwy Collins writes with big-time empathy and fierce courage."
—Matthew Quick, author of The Silver Linings Playbook and Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock

"In The Book of Laney, an unsettling and redemptive novel, Myfanwy Collins fuses heartbreak and empathy to explore uncomfortable truths about teenagers, violence, and survival. An unforgettable book."
—Roxane Gay, author of An Untamed State and Bad Feminist

From the Publisher

06/01/2015
Gr 10 Up—Laney Kates is surrounded by family secrets, and she is haunted by their consequences. Her angry older brother West and his Taliban-obsessed best friend went on a murderous rampage that ended in the wounding of 12 people and the deaths of six, including Laney's mother. After the tragedy, Laney is sent to live in the Adirondacks with her grandmother. There she gathers her secrets close to her, not wanting to be known in school as the girl whose brother is a murderer. As the teen heals from the emotional wounds from the horrific event, she begins to have visions of her grandmother, long-dead father, mother, West, and even Marshall, the boy she loves. Laney must decide if she will use her knowledge from these visions to hurt or to heal. While there is a need for teen books that address the aftermath of school violence, unfortunately there are too many plot threads in this title. Laney's journey through grief and shame is enough to carry the story—once the vision plotline is thrown in, the narrative begins to waver. The characters are fascinating: the grandmother living off the grid, the girl who must navigate life after her brother's deadly choice, the jock with a surprising secret, the young mother who loves her children but doesn't know how to parent them. But none of these figures come alive or ever leap off the page. VERDICT A novel that never quite reaches its potential.—Heather M. Campbell, formerly at Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO

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