Plot Summary
Every teenager has a secret life that is kept away from their parents and very teenage girl lives a part of their lives as a complete mystery to her mother. These are truths which Kate Baron has just come to grips with, and in a most horrifying way.
In the midst of an important meeting, Kate receives a call from Grace Hall, the exclusive private school her daughter Amelia attends. The school informs Kate that she must come to the school immediately; Amelia has been suspended, having been caught cheating. As Kate tries to fathom how her well-behaved daughter could have done such a thing, the news goes from bad to worse. She arrives at Grace Hall to see police cars and ambulances and to hear the dreadful news: Amelia has jumped from the school's roof, committing suicide.
Grace Hall tells her that this is a tragic case of "an academic overachiever distraught about getting caught cheating jumped to her death." But as she tries to sort this information out, she receives an anonymous text claiming that her daughter didn't jump to her death. Somehow, through motherly instinct, Kate knows that this is the truth and that she now must delve into the secret life of her daughter, to reconstruct the truth and to vindicate the memory of the girl she couldn't save.
Reconstructing Amelia is Kimberly McCreight's debut novel. McCreight, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's law school, spent several years as a litigation associate at some of New York's largest law firms before she left to write full-time. Because of the powerful writing and subject of her debut novel, Entertainment Weekly calls McCreight one of "13 to Watch in 2013." She lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with her husband and two daughters.
“An elaborately plotted mystery…McCreight does a fine job of building suspense and creating characters, notably Kate and Amelia, whom the target audience—both adults and older teens—will care about and empathize with.”
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Booklist
Publisher Summary
New York Times Bestseller
“Like Gone Girl, Reconstructing Amelia seamlessly marries a crime story with a relationship drama. And like Gone Girl, it should be hailed as one of the best books of the year.” — Entertainment Weekly
The stunning debut novel from Kimberly McCreight in which a single mother reconstructs her teenaged daughter Amelia’s tragic death, sifting through her emails, texts, and social media to piece together the shocking truth about the last days of her life.
Kate's in the middle of the biggest meeting of her career when she gets the telephone call from Grace Hall, her daughter’s exclusive private school in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Amelia has been suspended, effective immediately, and Kate must come get her daughter—now. But Kate’s stress over leaving work quickly turns to panic when she arrives at the school and finds it surrounded by police officers, fire trucks, and an ambulance. By then it’s already too late for Amelia. And for Kate.
An academic overachiever despondent over getting caught cheating has jumped to her death. At least that’s the story Grace Hall tells Kate. And clouded as she is by her guilt and grief, it is the one she forces herself to believe. Until she gets an anonymous text: She didn’t jump.
Reconstructing Amelia is about secret first loves, old friendships, and an all-girls club steeped in tradition. But, most of all, it’s the story of how far a mother will go to vindicate the memory of a daughter whose life she couldn’t save.
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About Kimberly McCreight
Kimberly McCreight is the New York Times bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia, which was nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, and Alex Awards; Where They Found Her; and The Outliers young adult trilogy.
About Khristine Hvam
Khristine Hvam has won several AudioFile Earphones Awards, placed three times as a finalist for the prestigous Audie Award, and won the Audie Award for Best Narration in 2012 and 2013. She studied acting for the theater and film, and her voice can be heard in Pokémon, World of Warcraft, and in various television and radio commercials.