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Searching... Monmouth Public Library | YA Fic Pitcher, A. 2013 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Dear Mr. S. Harris,
Ignore the blob of red in the top left corner. It's jam, not blood, though I don't think I need to tell you the difference. It wasn't your wife's jam the police found on your shoe. . . .
I know what it's like.
Mine wasn't a woman. Mine was a boy. And I killed him exactly three months ago.
Zoe has an unconventional pen pal--Mr. Stuart Harris, a Texas Death Row inmate and convicted murderer. But then again, Zoe has an unconventional story to tell. A story about how she fell for two boys, betrayed one of them, and killed the other.
Hidden away in her backyard shed in the middle of the night with a jam sandwich in one hand and a pen in the other, Zoe gives a voice to her heart and her fears after months of silence. Mr. Harris may never respond to Zoe's letters, but at least somebody will know her story--somebody who knows what it's like to kill a person you love. Only through her unusual confession can Zoe hope to atone for her mistakes that have torn lives apart, and work to put her own life back together again.
Rising literary star Annabel Pitcher pens a captivating second novel, rich with her distinctive balance between humor and heart. Annabel explores the themes of first love, guilt, and grief, introducing a character with a witty voice and true emotional resonance.
Author Notes
Annabel Pitcher graduated from Oxford University with a degree in English literature and went on to work in television. Her debut novel, My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece ,was nominated for more than fourteen UK awards, including the CILIP Carnegie Medal, the Guardian children's fiction prize, the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize, and two Galaxy British Book Awards. Annabel was also named one of the Guardian 's ten favorite children's authors. Ketchup Clouds (now titled Yours Truly ) won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize in the UK. She lives in Yorkshire, England, with her husband, son, and dog.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 Up-Sitting alone in her shed, "Zoe" writes letters to a Death Row inmate in Texas, confessing her belief that she's responsible for the death of a boy in her British town. Since he's a murderer, too, she believes he should understand her feelings of guilt and regret. Using a pseudonym and a fake address, Zoe tells her pen pal how she met and developed crushes on two brothers, Max and Aaron, and how things went terribly wrong. All but the last section of the book is told entirely through her letters, which chronicle her physical relationship with Max, her burgeoning crush on Aaron, and her interactions with the dead boy's mother. Her narrative also describes her dying grandfather, squabbling parents, deaf youngest sister, and a middle sister who's reporting increasingly serious bullying problems at school. As her correspondent's execution date nears, Zoe approaches her story's denouement. The twist on a familiar epistolary format is interesting if somewhat overstretched, and transitions between past and present are sometimes unclear. A subplot about Zoe's mother's work/life balance issues seems somewhat too adult, but the ambiguity of the dead boy's identity keeps readers turning pages. Overall, this title will be enjoyed by teens seeking edgy, realistic fiction with elements of romance and suspense.-Jill Ratzan, I. L. Peretz Community Jewish School, Somerset, NJ (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Pitcher (My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece) delivers a taut epistolary novel about a British teenager who writes to a Texas death row inmate and confesses her guilt in a murder: "You killed someone you were supposed to love and I killed someone I was supposed to love, and we both understand the pain and the fear and the sadness and the guilt and the hundred other feelings that don't even have a name in all of the English language." Though the writer invents her name, Zoe, there's nothing false about her one-way letters that gradually reveal her turbulent and destructive romance with two brothers, Max and Aaron, which ends in a death. Pitcher (who won the 2013 Waterstone's Children's Book Prize for this novel) thrusts Zoe into charged situations (her parents' strain over her deaf sister and her father's unemployment heighten the conflict), and Zoe's guilt casts a chill on her relationship with the boys' mother. Zoe's introspective and surprisingly humorous voice will strike a chord with readers as they dwell on the space between guilt and innocence. Ages 12-up. Agent: Catherine Clarke, Felicity Bryan Associates. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Stricken with guilt and sorrow, British teen Zoe (so she calls herself for the sake of privacy) begins a one-sided correspondence with a prisoner on death row in Texas. She thinks her situation bears some resemblance to his: he murdered his wife; she feels responsible for the fates of two brothersMax, the hot guy from high school with whom shes been making out, and Aaron, his older brother, with whom she is in love. But sex and romance arent all thats on her mind: her father has lost his job; her parents have been fighting; her grandfather is losing his mind; and her mother is obsessively fixated on her deaf little sister, Dot. This may all sound ponderous (and it is rather rich family drama), but Zoes original mind, turns of phrase, and sprightly narrative style give her story quick, light momentum and moments of lyricism. It wasnt just dancing. It was living, she says of a photo of her grandparents dancing together. Really living, like imagine the width of a moment rather than the length, and two people determined to fill every last millimeter of it. Sharp, articulate perceptions and a measure of suspenseas well as a lively thread of wit and humormake this a very engaging read. deirdre f. baker (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Of course Zoe isn't anything like Texas death row inmate Stuart Harris. She got away with her murder. Plagued by guilt and using the alias "Zoe," the British teen writes a series of confessional letters to Harris. These episodic letters reveal a string of fateful decisions, including her role in a young man's death. Seizing on her parents' marital problems, Zoe escapes to a party and finds instant attraction with "The Boy with the Brown Eyes." But when he disappears, she takes solace--with clothing removed--with popular Max Morgan. While periodically running into the mysterious guy, who she learns is named Aaron, Zoe continues her mostly physical relationship with Max. When she also discovers that Aaron and Max are brothers, readers clearly understand that one of them will die because of her. It's not just suspense that drives this epistolary page-turner, but Zoe's authentic emotional responses and unyielding wit ("who knew that vomit could be flirtatious?"). Zoe's not a monster here but a typical adolescent who does like Max but is in love with Aaron. An engaging subplot involving Zoe's younger, deaf sister and her mother's culpability in her disability mirror Zoe's mounting tension. After many red herrings, a bittersweet ending brings compassion and answers to Zoe's dilemma and shows just how easy it is to make mistakes and how hard love can be. (Fiction. 13 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Pitcher, author of the well-received My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece (2012), delivers a novel that is by turns heartbreaking and hilarious. Here, 15-year-old Zoe writes to a Death Row inmate in Texas. She empathizes with him and wants to share her story after all, she killed someone, too. From the garden shed of her home in England, Zoe (not her real name) pens lengthy letters to Stuart Harris offering snapshots from the previous year: how she met a boy with beautiful brown eyes named Aaron; how, before their feelings for each other were verbalized, she kissed, and then dated, his brother, Max; how Aaron and Zoe kept up the facade of Max and Zoe to protect Max. But one of the brothers ends up dead this much we know but we don't know which one, or how Zoe was involved, until the very end. The suspense is palpable, and Zoe's voice is witty and introspective as she explores issues relating to family, grief, and love. With each new letter, Zoe writes more familiarly, addressing Mr. Harris as My dearest Stu and signing with Love, as the clock counts down to the inmate's execution day. While there are a couple of missteps at the very end including an anticlimactic family revelation there's no denying the emotional resonance of this bittersweet novel.--Kelley, Ann Copyright 2010 Booklist