“With a dazzling mix of directness and metaphor, Prose captures the centrifugal and isolating force of grief. . . . “[
Goldengrove
is] a moving meditation on how, out of the painful passing of innocence and youth, sexuality and identity can miraculously emerge.”  —
Los Angeles Times
An emotionally powerful novel about adolescent love and loss from Francine Prose, the
New York Times
bestselling author of
Reading Like a Writer
and
A Changed Man
.
After the sudden death of her beloved older sister, thirteen-year-old Nico finds her life on New England's idyllic Mirror Lake irrevocably altered. Left alone to grope toward understanding, she falls into a seductive, dangerous relationship with her sister's boyfriend. Over one haunted summer, Nico faces that life-changing moment when children realize their parents can no longer help them as she experiences the mystery of loss and recovery. Still, for all the darkness at its heart,
is radiant with the lightness of summer and charged by the restless sexual tension of adolescence.