The Weight of the Stars

Description

Ryann Bird dreams of traveling across the stars. But she settles for acting out and skipping school. Until she meets Alexandria, a furious loner. After a horrific accident leaves Alexandria with a broken arm, the girls are brought together despite themselves-and Ryann learns Alexandria's secret: Her mother is an astronaut on a one-way trip past the edge of the solar system. Every night, Alexandria waits for radio signals from her mother. And now Ryann lifts Alexandria onto the roof day after day, until the silence between them grows into friendship . . . and eventually something more.

K. Ancrum grew up in Chicago, Illinois, under the illusory rigor of the Chicago public school system. She attended Dominican University to study fashion merchandizing, but was lured into an English degree after spending too many nights experimenting with hard literary criticism and hanging out with unsavory types, like poetry students. Currently, she lives in River North, Chicago, and writes books at work when no one is looking.

"The Weight of the Stars is one of the most gentle, gracious, and, overall, kind books that I've read all year ... It's a YA romance about girls and stars and friendship and mercy and loss and regret and what we owe each other and what we give away to lift each other up ... This book is starlight on broken concrete, it's flowers on a broken rooftop, and it's a masterpiece." --Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of Every Heart a Doorway "As bright as it is stellar ... a story with a lush, dark atmosphere; heartbreaking circumstances; bright, new love that blossoms from ugliness; and vividly real, magnetic characters." --Booklist (starred review) "Touches on sexual identity, friendship, nontraditional families, and the price of human space exploration. The characters' resilience and vulnerability are deftly handled ... For readers who are drawn to the unconventional, this will be a satisfying read." --Kirkus Reviews "Their slow-burn romance ... is sweetly, devastatingly understated." - Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Praise for The Wicker King: "Ancrum delves into the blurry space between reality and madness. A haunting and provocative read that will keep teens riveted." --School Library Journal "Teen fans of moody psychological horror will be entranced." --Booklist "Give this to readers who like complex, experimental fictions about intense relationships that acquire mythic resonance." --The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books "An eerie piece of realistic fiction whose characters revel in intense emotions." --Kirkus Reviews "An eerie and mesmerizing thriller that questions the space where reality and perception overlap, The Wicker King is a spine-tingling read that will have you riveted." --Caleb Roerhrig, author of Last Seen Leaving and White Rabbit