The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle and Hang the Moon, Jeannette Walls's gripping novel transports us with her powerful storytelling...contemplates the extraordinary bravery needed to confront real-life demons in a world where the hardest thing to do may be to not run away (O, The Oprah Magazine). n nIt is 1970 in a small town in California. Bean Holladay is twelve and her sister, Liz, is fifteen when their artistic mother, Charlotte, takes off to find herself, leaving her girls enough money to last a month or two. When Bean returns from school one day and sees a police car outside the house, she and Liz decide to take the bus to Virginia, where their widowed Uncle Tinsley lives in the decaying mansion that's been in Charlotte's family for generations. n nAn impetuous optimist, Bean soon discovers who her father was, and hears stories about why their mother left Virginia in the first place. Money is tight, and the sisters start babysitting and doing office work for Jerry Maddox, foreman of the mill in town, who bullies his workers, his tenants, his children, and his wife. Liz is whip-smart-an inventor of word games, reader of Edgar Allan Poe, nonconformist. But when school starts in the fall, it's Bean who easily adjusts, and Liz who becomes increasingly withdrawn. And then something happens to Liz in the car with Maddox. n nJeannette Walls has written a deeply moving novel about triumph over adversity and about people who find a way to love each other and the world, despite its flaws and injustices. n nEditorial Reviews n n[A] moving book...With relatable characters and a plot that can both rend and heal hearts, The Silver Star is a captivating novel. n- Deseret News - Elizabeth Reid n nWalls weaves a story of triumph and justice. n- Everett Herald n nWith immense charm and warmth, Walls, the author of The Glass Castle, has created a lively account of kids finding a way to thrive in the absence of reliable parents. n- Real Simple n nA polished work of fiction...Engaging...Fans will find echoes of her coruscating family chronicle that first struck a chord with readers in 2005, but The Silver Star is the novel of a more confident, mature and calculating writer...[an] atmospheric bildungsroman of adolescent passage, changing times and bent but unbroken family bonds. n- Dallas Morning News - Jane Sumner n nJeannette Walls jumps off the memoir train and hitches a ride on the novel form with The Silver Star. n- Vanity Fair - Elissa Schappell n nWalls is adept at steeping her characters in some intense, old-fashioned drama...The Silver Star is a lovely, moving novel with an appealing narrator in Bean. n- USA Today - Carmela Ciuraru n nWalls writes with easy assurance about Liz and Bean, proving in fiction as she did in her memoir, The Glass Castle, that she knows children's hearts-as well as the evil that can lurk in the hearts of grown-ups. n- Parade n nAbsorbing... n- People n nTold with a balanced, yet whimsical, voice of insight and awareness...[The Silver Star] is set during the Nixon ‘70s and Vietname War, and the author adeptly evokes the tumultuous era in the narrative without letting it overwhelm the primary thread of Bean's coming-of-age adventures. n- San Francisco Chronicle - S. Kirk Walsh n nA great spirit comes through The Silver Star...Jeannette Walls knows how to make characters pop off the page (and tear your heart out in the process.) n- Campus Circle Magazine - Angela Mattano n nWalls weaves a story of triumph and justice. n- Everett Herald n n[A] captivating, read-in-one-sitting, coming-of-age adventure. n- Booklist n nWalls writes with equal tenderness for her most beloved characters and the least among them. It takes a compassionate soul to find the beauty in despair and that's what Walls does best. n- The Patriot Ledger - Amy MacKinnon n n[The Silver Star is] an examination of bad parenting and resilient children in a rich and complex setting. Bean is a compelling character, and it is fascinating to watch her ideas about both her mother and her sister change as the book progresses. n- Bookreporter.com - Sarah Rachel Egelman n nWalls' writing is lively and her dialogue crips, and the girls' struggles with their mother ring true. n- The Columbus Dispatch - Margaret Quamme n nJeannette Walls is a master at her craft. In the same way she spoke candidly of her own parents' shortcomings in The Glass Castle, in The Silver Star she lends this candid voice to Bean, and captures the inner workings of an adolescent's mind perfectly....The Silver Star stands strong as its own story, wholly unique and wholly captivating. n- EverdayEbook.com - Kristin Fritz n nJeannette Walls transports us with her powerful storytelling...Using Bean's expertly crafted, naively stubborn voice, Walls contemplates the extraordinary bravery needed to confront real-life demons in a world where the hardest thing to do may be to not run away. n- O, the Oprah magazine - Abbe Wright n nGreat writing...An absorbing, unsentimental tale of childhood. n- The New York Times Book Review - Chelsea Cain n nWalls has written yet another gripping story of a courageous and sensible girl surviving the adults around her. n- St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Holly Silva n nWalls writes with the paired-down incisiveness of a memoirist looking for the significance of every incident, but it's the way she draws Bean, so strong even in the face of all the additional challenges that come with her age, gender, and innocence, that will make this book a hit with readers. n- The Daily Beast - Nicholas Mancusi n nAt heart Walls is a wonderful yarn-spinner...This is a page-turner, built for hammock or beach reading. n- Entertainment Weekly - Karen Valby n nBy turns witty, warm and provocative, this all ages read by the author of The Glass Castle is a perfect choice for your high school mother-daughter book club or to throw in your beach bag this summer. n- ReadingRants.org n n[A] captivating, read-in-one-sitting, coming-of-age adventure. n- Booklist n nBean and Liz's selfish, deluded mother will seem familiar to the legions of Jeannette Walls fans. After being abandoned, the sisters travel cross-country to Byler, Virginia, to stay with their widowed and eccentric Uncle Tinsley. As narrator, Walls's spunky tone reflects Bean's inherent sense of fairness-and its lack of a filter. Despite his gruffness, Uncle Tinsley has a heart of gold. Bean meets relatives she didn't know she had, and their jocularity, optimism, and patriotism are clear in Walls's performance. As Liz and Bean work for mill foreman Jerry Maddox, his big talk makes it obvious that he's going to be a bad guy. The author's warm, funny reading makes for an uncomplicated but satisfying story in which justice is ultimately served. A.B. AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine n- JUNE 2013 - AudioFile