A Flicker in the Clarity

by Amy McNamara

Overview

Award-winning author Amy McNamara explores the emotional fallout after a girl cuts ties with her best friend. Perfect for fans of Jandy Nelson and Jennifer Niven.

Evie and Emma are inseparable. Two halves of a whole, they balance each other until Evie makes a flip decision that gets Emma in serious trouble.

Feeling the sting of betrayal, Emma freezes Evie out. Evie is full of regret, desperately sorry, sad, and—for the first time in her life—entirely alone.

Then Evie meets Theo, a boy who offers her a view of the world through a different lens. Just as she lets herself fall for Theo, Emma resurfaces—but not without consequence.

Emma’s erratic behavior, drunken mishaps, and panicked phone calls leave Evie afraid there’s something deeper going on. Evie wants to help Emma, but Emma is bent on self-destruction.

All Evie wanted was her friend back—but can you help someone who doesn’t want to be saved?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062308344
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/12/2018
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.60(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Amy McNamara is a writer whose poems have appeared in numerous journals and have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her first novel, Lovely, Dark and Deep, won an ILA Children’s and Young Adults’ Book Award, was an ABC New Voices Pick, and was nominated as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. When she’s not reading stories, telling stories, or thinking about stories or poems, she can be spotted, camera in hand, documenting the incredible city she calls home. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Visit her online at www.amymcnamara.com.

Editorial Reviews

07/02/2018
Seventeen-year-olds Evie and Emma are best friends, but since the death of Emma’s brother in a drunk-driving accident, Emma has been spiraling out of control. Evie grows frustrated by what she sees as Emma’s increasingly reckless behavior (sneaking out, partying, and dating older men). In Emma’s absence, Evie meets Theo, an enigmatic boy with his own painful past who helps her in her quest to save Emma from herself. Evie and Emma’s relationship is thoughtfully constructed; the highs and lows of what has transformed into a twisted version of friendship are realistically rendered. Readers will identify with Evie’s struggle to balance her desire to help her friend with her own needs and emotional health. Evie’s penchant for making maps—of neighborhoods, of people, of souls—adds complexity to her character, illustrating her need to make sense of the world while highlighting how devastating she finds Emma’s absence and self-destructive behavior. McNamara (Lovely, Dark, and Deep) gives readers a quiet, brooding story of friendship and learning when it’s time to let go. Ages 14–up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties. (June)

Publishers Weekly

McNamara’s lyrical novel poignantly explores the damange wrought by codependent friendships. With pages teeming with evocative, figurative language and a moving focus on self-discovery, this will appeal to fans of character-driven stories about emotional growth.” — ALA Booklist

“Lacerating authenticity. Distressingly plausible. There’s a whiff of Fine’s amazing The Tulip Touch here in the friendship that’s gone too far.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“This is life as it truly is, messy and complicated, for which McNamara presents a perfectly compatible narrative.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

“Thoughtfully constructed. McNamara gives readers a story of friendship and learning when it’s time to let go.” — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

McNamara’s lyrical novel poignantly explores the damange wrought by codependent friendships. With pages teeming with evocative, figurative language and a moving focus on self-discovery, this will appeal to fans of character-driven stories about emotional growth.

ALA Booklist

Lacerating authenticity. Distressingly plausible. There’s a whiff of Fine’s amazing The Tulip Touch here in the friendship that’s gone too far.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

This is life as it truly is, messy and complicated, for which McNamara presents a perfectly compatible narrative.

Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

Lacerating authenticity. Distressingly plausible. There’s a whiff of Fine’s amazing The Tulip Touch here in the friendship that’s gone too far.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

03/01/2018
Gr 9 Up—Shy overthinker Evie and spontaneous party girl Emma have been best friends forever. Evie is always there when Emma needs her, including the recent passing of Emma's brother. The friendship suddenly splinters when Evie makes a split-second decision not to cover for Emma when she's out with an older man. Evie is devastated when Emma reacts by blocking her out of her life. Both are students at the competitive Bly School in Manhattan, and Evie is already stressed by the pressures of class, college applications, and finances. When she meets unschooled genius/philosopher/boxer Theo, his approach to life is a breath of fresh air. Emma comes around and starts talking to Evie again. Despite being appalled about how Emma treats Evie, readers will nonetheless be drawn into this story. It isn't a clear-cut friend breakup, but the intensity of the friendship does subside as Evie sees what has been going on a bit clearer. McNamara throws a lot at Evie—a codependent relationship, first love, witnessing a suicide attempt—but it feels like Evie still has so much to learn by the novel's close. VERDICT Despite the work's uneven resolution, this title is a good choice for those needing emotion-filled realistic fiction. A general purchase for medium to large collections.—Emily Moore, Camden County Library System, NJ

School Library Journal

2018-03-05
New York teenagers whirl through laughs, tears, hookups, breakups, guilty secrets, and complicated friendships.Spun around what has become a largely one-way friendship between solid, reliable, introspective Evie and manipulative, thrill-seeking Emma, this soapy tale features the high school girls in repeated floods of tears over friendship drama, dangerous pranks, the drunken driving death of Emma's older brother, a brief but torrid fling, a tendency to hesitate and overthink that threatens to sink Evie's art school dreams, and unexpected changes in Evie's family. Evie, who is poorer than most of her classmates, the mousy one in the shadow of her charismatic best friend, finds herself suddenly cut loose when she does something Emma feels is a betrayal—but as soon as Evie starts to branch out, Emma reels her back into their lopsided relationship. McNamara (Lovely, Dark and Deep, 2012) builds her cast—which is evidently all white aside from a minor character who mentions that he's browner than his half siblings—largely from contrasting pairs, so readers who enjoy taking sides can, for instance, compare different parenting styles or Evie's rival romantic interests. Ultimately Evie is nudged into steering her own course. Although the author indulges in a weakness for platitudes toward the end, she never waxes preachy.A bumpy but occasionally exhilarating ride over emotional rapids. (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews