Miles From Ordinary
Miles from Ordinary: A Novel
Miles From Ordinary
Carol Lynch Williams
"Imagine Anna Quindlen or Sue Miller turning her attention to writing a young adult novel, and you have an idea what [Williams] has done for early teen readers…" --Audrey Couloumbis, author of the Newbery Honor Book Getting Close to BabyThirteen-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.

Book Details

Genre: 

  • Fiction

Age Level: 

  • 12 and up
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Lacey's mother is not well. She is plagued by the demons of years past and wrong decisions she made; because of her illness, she can't support herself or her fourteen-year- old daughter. Needing money to survive, Lacey gets a job at the local library- the same library where her aunt, who abandoned Lacey, worked years ago. She hopes that she can find any trace of the woman who left, the woman who can piece together the broken parts of her mother's mind. Miles From Ordinary chronicles one day in Lacey's life, the one day that changes her life forever.

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Miles from Ordinary by Carol Lynch Williams is a dark read. It follows the story of thirteen-year-old Lacey who is barely managing to keep her life together. The last time Lacey had a friend was in the fourth grade. Her father left when she was young and her mother, Angela, is sick and suicidal. Furthermore, Laceys mother has an obsession with tragedy and often looks at pictures of destruction and death. Angela sees visions of her own dead father and believes him to be alive. This ghost encourages Angela to harm herself.

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