THE GIRL FROM EARTH'S END

A girl with a green thumb uproots herself from her isolated island home in search of a rare plant to cure her dying papa.

Twelve years ago, the Orange Boat (which hasn’t carried oranges since the Great Soil Blight) brought an unexpected delivery to Earth’s End, a forgotten corner of the Gardenia Isles. Neither of Henna’s papas expected to receive a baby in the mail. Henna knows all about her family’s story, and she thought she knew everything about Papa Niall and Papa Joaquim too until she discovers seasonal allergies aren’t what’s making Papa Niall sick this year but the resurgence of a terminal illness. Determined to save him, Henna embarks on a secret mission at St. Basil’s Conservatory, an elite horticulture boarding school where she hopes to find and steal from a heavily guarded repository the last remaining seeds of the nightwalker, a plant rumored to produce a miracle healing elixir. Humor and a suspenseful adventure balance the sensitive, aching exploration of loss. Sun-bronzed, dark-haired Henna lives in a racially diverse world. Henna; her genderfluid friend, P; and their roommate, Lora, who uses a wheelchair for mobility, face various barriers of accessibility at the school. Each of them has their own goals, but they learn to affirm and ally with one another to challenge injustice. Dairman’s careful use of details sets up an emotionally fulfilling, bittersweet resolution.

A coming-of-age story blossoming with tender honesty and hope.