A book about love, loss, and the power of music, perfect for fans of Nick Hornby and Fangirl.
Taliah Sahar Abdallat lives and breathes music. Songs have always helped Tal ease the pain of never having known her father. Her mother, born in Jordan and very secretive about her past, won’t say a word about who her dad really was. But when Tal finds a shoebox full of old letters from Julian Oliver—yes, the indie rock star Julian Oliver—she begins to piece the story together.
She writes to Julian, but after three years of radio silence, she’s given up hope. Then one day, completely out of the blue, Julian shows up at her doorstep, and Tal doesn’t know whether to be furious or to throw herself into his arms. Before she can decide, he asks her to go on a trip with him to meet her long-estranged family and to say good-bye to his father, her grandfather, who is dying.
Getting to know your father after sixteen years of estrangement doesn’t happen in one car ride. But as Tal spends more time with Julian and his family, she begins to untangle her parents’ secret past, and discovers a part of herself she never recognized before.
By the acclaimed author of My Heart and Other Black Holes, this is an intergenerational story of family and legacy and the way love informs both of those things. It’s about secrets and the debt of silence. It’s about the power of songs. And most of all, it’s about learning how to say hello. And good-bye.
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“Alive with intensity, gut-wrenching honesty, moments of humor, and—of course—heart. This is an extraordinary debut by a striking new voice in YA fiction that left me in awe and moved beyond measure. Not to be missed.”
— Nova Ren Suma, New York Times bestselling author, on My Heart and Other Black Holes
“Intriguing, romantic, and honest, the book celebrates the new beginnings that can emerge from tragic endings.”
— Publishers Weekly“A music-packed look at how we grow, change, and define or redefine relationships. This thoughtful look at finding one’s place, sometimes in the most surprising and unexpected ways, will have wide appeal.”
— School Library Journal“An intense family drama that will pull readers in with poignancy, romance, and grief over lost relationships, all set to the beat of scattered song lyrics woven nicely through the narrative.”
— Booklist“A well-executed family drama of the power of romantic and parental love, secrets, regrets, and new beginnings.”
— Kirkus ReviewsBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Jasmine Warga is the New York Times bestselling author of Other Words for Home, a Newbery Honor Book and a Walter Honor Book for Younger Readers; The Shape of Thunder; and A Rover’s Story. Her teen books, Here We Are Now and My Heart and Other Black Holes, have been translated into over twenty-five languages. She lives in the Chicago area with her family. You can visit Jasmine online at jasminewarga.com.
Soneela Nankani is an award-winning narrator with over three hundred titles in many different genres including Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi, and Nonfiction. She has garnered sixteen Earphones Awards, nominations for Audie and SOVAS awards, and was recently awarded AudioFile magazine’s Golden Voice Lifetime Achievement Honor. Her audiobooks have been featured in Best Audiobooks lists by AudioFile magazine and the Washington Post, among others. In her spare time, she loves to read (yes, really), learn languages, try new recipes, and travel. She lives in the DC area with her husband and two mischievous daughters.