Past Perfect Life
-
-
4.7 • 6 Ratings
-
-
- $12.99
-
- $12.99
Publisher Description
An exciting new direction for acclaimed author Elizabeth Eulberg, Past Perfect Life is a tense and tender read about secrets and lies, reality and identity, and the ways we put ourselves back together when everything is broken.
Small-town Wisconsin high school senior Allison Smith loves her life the way it is--spending quality time with her widowed father and her tight-knit circle of friends, including best friend Marian and maybe-more-than-friends Neil. Sure she is stressed out about college applications . . . who wouldn't be? In a few short months, everything's going to change, big time.
But when Ally files her applications, they send up a red flag . . . because she's not Allison Smith. And Ally's--make that Amanda's--ordinary life is suddenly blown apart. Was everything before a lie? Who will she be after? And what will she do as now comes crashing down around her?
Perfect for fans of Far From the Tree, this is the story of one teen's search for herself amid the confusion of a shattered past and a future far from all she planned.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Calling to mind Caroline B. Cooney's The Face on the Milk Carton, this riveting missing-child story contrasts 17-year-old Allison Smith's contented life in a small Wisconsin town with the chaos that follows her father's arrest for kidnapping her from her mother 15 years earlier. Suddenly, her father is in jail and Allison is a national news story, hounded by the media. Before she's had a chance to process the events, Allison is wrenched away from everything she loves to live with her mother and a new, unfamiliar family in Tampa, Fla. Filled with shock, homesickness, and anger, she is unprepared and unwilling to reinvent herself to become Amanda Linsley, the happy daughter her mother wants her to be. Although the story is told from Allison's point of view, Eulberg (The Lonely Hearts Club) sharply delineates the emotions and motivations of other characters, clarifying the reasons behind the kidnapping and the pain it has caused for various members of Allison's family, including younger stepsister, Sarah, who has had to endure the lifelong repercussions of Allison's disappearance. An excellent choice for prompting discussion, this thought-provoking novel captures the devastating legacy of family lies. Ages 13 up.
