Some Things That Stay

A New York Times Notable Book Winner of the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction A Book-of-the-Month Club and Quality Paperback Book Club Selection and Winner of the Cleveland Arts Prize in LiteratureTamara Anderson was in third grade when she found out most people stay in the same house for more than a year. Until then she thought everyone picked up and moved on a regular basis crossing the country leaving behind people and bedrooms and belongings. Now shes turning fifteen and she wants to stay in Mayville New York. At first glance there isnt much to stick around for. In the tarpaper house across the road there are the Murphys the Baptist family who upset Tamaras atheist parents by inviting her to church. In the pasture theres Edith the cow. And up in the attic theres the ghost of the boy who used to live here or at least thats what Tamara suspects. But this time Tamara is putting her foot down and planting it Taking us into the heart and mind of an unforgettable young girl and a unique corner of a rural 1950s America Sarah Willis presents a heartfelt first novel [in which] the characters are so vivid and rounded they produce a reflected happiness in the reader. (The Miami Herald)