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A teen becomes a reluctant caretaker for her nephews in this contemporary novel set in the fictional moneyed town of Evans Beach, near Portland, Maine.

Seventeen-year-old Hannah Lynn has lived with her absent-minded but loving dad, an employee of the public works department, as her sole parent since her mother died when she was 4. Self-reliant and smart, Hannah plans to get out of Evans Beach once she graduates. She’s eager to leave the snobby town behind for good. When her dad agrees to a kinship placement for his grandsons—Henry, 13, and Simon, 9—after Hannah’s troubled older sister, Pauline, has them removed from her care, she finds herself pulled into more involvement with them than she intended. Hannah and her father’s warm, imperfect relationship and the realistic, sometimes intense portrayal of her nephews’ struggles permeate this nuanced story. The details about the complicated child welfare system are spot-on, and a sweet romance between Hannah and her quirky, kind classmate Richard Greene will pull readers in. If the dialogue feels a little too clever and snappy in moments of stress, it’s also often very funny and balances this earnest, heart-wrenching story. Major characters read white.

An honest, moving portrayal of a family finding their way through life’s challenging moments.