Miles From Ordinary by Carol Lynch Williams

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Miles From Ordinary by Carol Lynch Williams

St. Martin's Griffin, March 15, 2011

Summary from Goodreads:

Thirteen-year-old Lacey wakes to a beautiful summer morning excited to begin her new job at the library, just as her mother is supposed to start work at the grocery store. Lacey hopes that her mother's ghosts have finally been laid to rest; after all, she seems so much better these days, and they really do need the money. But as the hours tick by and memories come flooding back, a day full of hope spins terrifyingly out of control....

“No one can get inside the head and heart of a 13-year-old girl better than Carol Lynch Williams, and I mean no one," said James S. Jacobs, Professor of Children's Literature at Brigham Young University, of her breakout novel, The Chosen One. Now this award-winning YA author brings us an equally gripping story of a girl who loves her mother, but must face the truth of what life with that mother means for both of them.

Holy moly, was this an intense read! It was not at all what I expected (and I've purposefully avoided reading any reviews), but it was so much better than what I imagined it would be! A contemporary read with a bit of a ghost story mixed in. The whole book takes place over just one day, but what an event-filled day it is!

Carol Lynch Williams is a master storyteller. We're right with Lacey all through the story, which means that we don't really understand everything that's going on at first (like, why is Granddaddy is Lacey's room, watching her sleep? Creepy!). Telling the story this way drives us to find out more--I was cursing myself that I couldn't read fast enough! (And as for Granddaddy, well hey, it only gets creepier!) And the last twenty pages or so, oh my word I had to force myself to read them, and not just skim over to find out what happens! And there was one scene at the beginning, where Momma was getting off the bus at Winn-Dixie, where I just about burst into tears, imagining little 14-year-old Lacey watching Momma the way most mothers watch their kids head off to school. It was such a powerful passage in the story!

Borrowed book from library.


Enjoy your reading!Christi