The People We Keep
BOOK RIOT’S BEST BOOKS OF 2021
“This is a novel of great empathy, about connections and coming-of-age, built families and self-acceptance. It contains heartbreak and redemption, and a plucky, irresistible protagonist…[A] propulsive, empathetic novel.” —Shelf Awareness
Little River, New York, 1994: April Sawicki is living in a motorless motorhome that her father won in a poker game. Failing out of school, picking up shifts at a local diner, she’s left fending for herself in a town where she’s never quite felt at home. When she “borrows” her neighbor’s car to perform at an open mic night, she realizes her life could be much bigger than where she came from. After a fight with her dad, April packs her stuff and leaves for good, setting off on a journey to find a life that’s all hers.
Driving without a chosen destination, she stops to rest in Ithaca. Her only plan is to survive, but as she looks for work, she finds a kindred sense of belonging at Cafe Decadence, the local coffee shop. Still, somehow, it doesn’t make sense to her that life could be this easy. The more she falls in love with her friends in Ithaca, the more she can’t shake the feeling that she’ll hurt them the way she’s been hurt. As April moves through the world, meeting people who feel like home, she chronicles her life in the songs she writes and discovers that where she came from doesn’t dictate who she has to be.
This lyrical, luminous tale “is both a profound love letter to creative resilience and a reminder that sometimes even tragedy can be a kind of blessing” (Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author).
“This is a novel of great empathy, about connections and coming-of-age, built families and self-acceptance. It contains heartbreak and redemption, and a plucky, irresistible protagonist…[A] propulsive, empathetic novel.” —Shelf Awareness
Little River, New York, 1994: April Sawicki is living in a motorless motorhome that her father won in a poker game. Failing out of school, picking up shifts at a local diner, she’s left fending for herself in a town where she’s never quite felt at home. When she “borrows” her neighbor’s car to perform at an open mic night, she realizes her life could be much bigger than where she came from. After a fight with her dad, April packs her stuff and leaves for good, setting off on a journey to find a life that’s all hers.
Driving without a chosen destination, she stops to rest in Ithaca. Her only plan is to survive, but as she looks for work, she finds a kindred sense of belonging at Cafe Decadence, the local coffee shop. Still, somehow, it doesn’t make sense to her that life could be this easy. The more she falls in love with her friends in Ithaca, the more she can’t shake the feeling that she’ll hurt them the way she’s been hurt. As April moves through the world, meeting people who feel like home, she chronicles her life in the songs she writes and discovers that where she came from doesn’t dictate who she has to be.
This lyrical, luminous tale “is both a profound love letter to creative resilience and a reminder that sometimes even tragedy can be a kind of blessing” (Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author).
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✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI
Readers say *The People We Keep* is a heartfelt coming-of-age story featuring a resilient, complex protagonist navigating life on her own. Allison Lar...
Sixteen-year-old April has been raised by her dad after her mom left them when she was very young. But since her dad has met someone new, he's pretty much abandoned her too, leaving her alone in the rundown motor home they were living in.
After a big fight with her father, she decides to take off and strike out on her own, in his car. While she's running away, she meets people along the way and starts building a little family of her own. If only she can stick around long enough to appreciate it.
After a big fight with her father, she decides to take off and strike out on her own, in his car. While she's running away, she meets people along the way and starts building a little family of her own. If only she can stick around long enough to appreciate it.
This book is a coming of age story for a teen who is abandoned by her mother and left one her own at a young age by her dad. She has musical talent and a fierce sense of survival. My heart aches for her often but she keeps herself safe mostly by instinct.
Her biggest challenge is forming relationships. (Of course) and you go with her as she takes risks in this area.
I thought I would find it very cliche but it’s not. I read it very quickly, wanting to stay with her and keep her safe.
I recommend it. A great read about human spirit and probably the story of many people.
Oh my, this one is going to tug at your heartstrings. I would call it more of a coming-of-age story rather than young adult. April is 16 and pretty much living on her own in a motorhome after her mother left and her father took up with a younger, local woman. April isn't a big fan of school; she picks up shifts at Margot's dinner and one night she "borrows" a neighbor’s car to perform at an open mike. April realizes there is so much more to the life she's living, and she packs her bag and leaves for good. She meets wonderful people along the way, starting in Ithaca, NY. She finds work, writes songs, plays gigs along the way. She doesn't always know how to accept help and when life throws her a curve ball, she leaves and moves on to the next place. April doesn't know how to STAY because the adults in her life didn't stay. She only knows how to leave. People come and go out of our lives all the time. Will April ever be able to recognize the keepers? This is a beautiful, hopeful look at the impact people have on our lives, even for a short time.
Made me seriously think about decisions from my past and how things may have seemed from someone else’s perspective. Poor April just kept leaving situations and thinking that people that loved her could not handle the truth about her life, instead of letting them in to stay..
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