WINNER OF THE U.S. NATIONAL BOOK AWARD 2017 FOR YOUNG PEOPLE'S LITERATURE!
'Sometimes, family hurts each other. But after that's done you bandage each other up, and you move on. Together. So you can go and think that you're some lone wolf, but you're not. You've got us now, like it or not, and we've got you.' When 16 year-old
Grace gives up her baby for adoption, she decides that the time has come to find out more about her own biological mother. Although her
biological mum proves elusive, her search leads her to two half-siblings she never knew existed.
Maya, 15, has been adopted by wealthy parents and seems to have the picture-perfect family - that is, if you look past her alcoholic mother and the fact that Maya stands out like a sore thumb.
Older brother
Joaquin hasn't been so lucky. At 18, he's shuffled between
foster home after foster home, always careful never to get
attached to anyone or anything, because it always gets
taken away.
When these
three siblings come together, they find in themselves the place they can
belong, while the
secrets they guard threaten to explode...
For fans of John Green, Rainbow Rowell and Nicola Yoon, Far From the Tree is a raw, compelling, and ultimately uplifting story of what it means to be family. 'Benway's unforgettable novel explores the paradoxes and entanglements of unconventional families ... It's a melodrama, to be sure, but with as much brain as heart. Benway writes with remarkable control and has the rare talent of almost vanishing as an author as she inhabits each character's perspective.'
The New York Times'Family issues are neither airbrushed nor oversimplified... From the first page to the last, this compassionate, funny, moving, compulsively readable novel about what makes a family gets it right.'
Kirkus Reviews 'Equally heartwarming and heart-wrenching... Benway delves into the souls of these characters as they wrestle to overcome feelings of inadequacy, abandonment, and betrayal, gradually coming to understand themselves and each other.'
Publishers Weekly '
Far from the Tree is the kind of book that strikes close to a reader's heart. I had to know what happened to Grace, Maya, and Joaquin, and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Beautiful.'
Ally Condie, author of
The Matched Trilogy
'Far From the Tree is a touching story about the strength and love of unconventional families, and the unbreakable bond of siblings near and far. Robin Benway's characters are authentically crafted, full of heart, hurt, and hope.'
Brandy Colbert, author of
Pointe and Little & Lion `In the eloquent confidence of its life-embracing argument, the book really is something special'
The Wall Street Journal Praise for
Emmy & Oliver:
'Robin Benway writes with her full heart.
Emmy & Oliver is a genuinely sweet and funny novel bursting with the inextinguishable forces of love-between parents and children, distant and inseparable friends, new and reunited lovers.'
Stephanie Perkins,
New York Times bestselling author of
Isla and the Happily Ever After '
Emmy & Oliver is wonderful. Funny, heartbreaking, and true. Robin Benway has written characters I felt like I'd known forever, and was so sad to see go. A must-read.'
Morgan Matson, author of
Since You've Been Gone
This book has been graded for interest at 12+ years.
There are 384 pages in this book. This book was published 2018 by Simon & Schuster Ltd .
Robin Benway grew up in Orange County California and attended college at both NYU and UCLA. At NYU she won the Seth Barkas prize for fiction. Robin Benway lives in Santa Monica and Audrey, Wait is her first published novel.