Keep Her: A Novel

by Leora Krygier

Overview

Destiny doesn’t factor into seventeen-year-old adoptee Maddie’s rational world, where numbers and scientific probability have always proven to be the only things she can count on as safe and reliable. Still, Maddie is also an artist who draws on instinct and intuition to create the collages she makes from photographs and the castoff scraps she saves. But when her brother falls in with a Los Angeles street gang, Maddie loses her ability to create art. Then fate deals Maddie a card she can’t ignore: Aiden, a young filmmaker she meets when a water main bursts inside a camera store. Aiden is haunted by the death of his younger brother, and a life-changing decision he must now make—whether or not to keep his baby daughter. Caught in a whirlpool of love and loss, Maddie and Aiden find that art and numbers, a mission to save endangered whales, and a worn-out copy of Moby Dick all collide to heal and save them both.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631521447
Publisher:	She Writes Press
Publication date:	09/06/2016
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	264
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Leora Krygier is a former Los Angeles Superior Court, Juvenile Division judge. She’s the author of When She Sleeps (Toby Press), which was lauded for its “luminous prose” (Newsweek) and praised by Booklist, Library Journal, and Kirkus. It was also a New York Public Library Selection for “Best Books for the Teen Age.” She’s also the author of Juvenile Court: A Judges Guide for Young Adults and their Parents (Rowan&Littlefield) and Keep Her (She Writes Press), a young adult novel reviewed as a “vibrantly dazzling literary cocktail on the restorative powers of love.” She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, David.

Editorial Reviews

Leora Krygier weaves an eloquent story about two star-crossed lovers. I absolutely loved this heartbreaking but uplifting tale.”

—Linda Schreyer, author of Tears and Tequila

“A riveting, complex tale of adventure and love. Maddie and Aiden, both unmoored by loss, make their way—together.”

— Sarah Lamstein, author of Hunger Moon

“A flood, a drought and saving endangered ocean animals are gently woven into Leora Krygier's new novel, Keep Her—a beautifully told tale of Maddie and Aiden, who discover themselves while navigating the magical world of meant-to-be love.”

—Jackie Hirtz, Co-author of Lola Zola and the Lemonade Crush

From the Publisher

09/01/2016
Gr 9 Up—It's Maddie's last summer in Los Angeles before she heads to art school. She pays a lazy visit to a photography store, and a freak accident in the form of a broken water main has her cross paths with Aiden, a young creative who's traveled the world. The two begin a tender romance marred by distractions: Maddie's older brother is just getting out of prison, and although her family is willing to forgive him, Maddie herself oscillates between anger and confusion. Meanwhile, young father Aiden is torn between giving his newborn up for adoption and taking care of her on his own. Maddie and Aiden have each other to confide in, but as the summer winds down, the pair start to find themselves collapsing under the weight of their worlds. This is a slow-paced affair, similar in style to romances by Stephanie Perkins and Kody Keplinger. Krygier throws a plethora of plot elements into her tiny novel, but masterly pacing keeps it all afloat, and readers never feel jarred by changes in narrative focus. The couple's absorbing dynamic anchors the multifaceted story, but their relationship begins almost instantly, and so older teens might have difficulty accepting the intensity of their newfound feelings. The Los Angeles setting is memorable, and Angeleno audiences will know exactly where key scenes take place. Readers able to invest in the two leads will be enchanted by Krygier's vivid, immersive prose. VERDICT A recommended read for creative romantics everywhere.—Matisse Mozer, Los Angeles Public Library

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