The Phoebe Variations: A Novel

National Bestseller
An Oprah Daily Best Book
An Indie Next Pick
A LibraryReads Pick

"The Phoebe Variations is a probing story about the reverberations of adoption, toxic friendship and what it means to be a mother . . . Phoebe is the best kind of unreliable narrator: smart, sensitive and always processing something."
--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A stunning coming-of-age novel about friendship, mothers, and finding one's way in the world by the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Ruth and A Map of the World.

Seventeen-year-old Phoebe was never interested in her birth family. But on the cusp of her high school graduation, her adoptive mother, Greta, insists on a visit to meet her biological parents and siblings. The encounter is a jolt, a revelation that derails Phoebe.

With the help of her best friend Luna, Phoebe runs away--as far as their friend Patrick O'Connor's chaotic home, where she hopes to go unnoticed among his thirteen siblings. What begins as an adolescent rebellion soon spirals into a whirlwind of transformation and self-discovery.

As Phoebe grapples with her shifting identity, she must navigate the tumultuous road out of girlhood and chart a new and unknown course.