Jacksonville Public Library

The grown ups, a novel, Robin Antalek

eng

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fiction

The grown ups

sound recording

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897119503

Robin Antalek

a novel

The summer he turns fifteen, Sam enjoys, for a few secret months, the unexpected attention of Suzie Epstein. For reasons Sam doesn't entirely understand, he and Suzie keep their budding relationship hidden from their close-knit group of friends. But as the summer ends, Sam's world unexpectedly shatters. Suzie's parents are moving to a new city to save their marriage, and his own mother has suddenly left the house, leaving Sam's father alone to raise two sons. Watching as her parents' marital troubles escalate, Suzie takes on the responsibility of raising her two younger brothers and plans an early escape to college and independence. Though she thinks of Sam, she deeply misses her close friend Bella but makes no attempt to reconnect, embarrassed by the destructive wake of her parents as they left the only place Suzie called home. Years later a chance meeting with Sam's older brother will reunite her with both Sam and Bella--and force her to confront her past and her friends. After losing Suzie, Bella finds her first real love in Sam. But Sam's inability to commit to her or even his own future eventually drives them apart. In contrast, Bella's old friend Suzie--and Sam's older brother Michael--seem to have worked it all out, leaving Bella to wonder where she went wrong

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