March 27, 2023
Rosoff (The Great Golden) offers a heady exploration of mental health, first love, and fierce female friendships in this atmospheric read. It’s 1983, and 17-year-old Beth has just arrived in New York City from Providence, R.I. Having broken a story revealing that her high school was denying students admission based on religion and race, she’s now spending the summer before college interning at a major N.Y.C. publication, and is both intimidated and exhilarated by the opportunity. There, she befriends fellow intern Edie, a savvy native New Yorker who takes medication for her self-described “neurotic complex.” Even as she finds her footing in her internship, Beth feels out of place (“Wrong hair, wrong shoes, wrong way of standing.... All wrong”). But Edie helps her settle into her new life and, together, the white and Jewish teens make themselves indispensable at the paper, update Beth’s limited wardrobe, and bask in the air conditioning of Edie’s family’s apartment. Everything feels like a dream until Edie begins acting strangely, prompting rapid change in their friendship. Through the girls’ intense and complicated relationship, Rosoff depicts a rousing tale that centers an ambitious yet insecure teenager learning to take control of her life and desires. Ages 14–up. Agent: Zoë Pagnamenta, Zoë Pagnamenta Agency.