Departe de trunchi. Ce inseamna sa fii o familie?

Grace is sixteen when she gives up her newborn daughter for adoption. Her own adoptive parents cannot ease her sense of loss. She cannot find her birth mother. But she learns she has a brother and sister.

Her sister Maya is fifteen. Maya’s adoptive parents are rich. Her brother Joaquin is almost eighteen. He has lived with seventeen foster families. He has also faced a failed adoption. Grace finds them, and the three begin to grow close. Yet each keeps secrets from the others. Maya and Joaquin have little wish to find their mother. Grace feels hurt but keeps up the search.

This novel for young adults is by Robyn Benway. It asks what makes a family. It looks at the harm that broken family ties cause. It also explores love and hope. The story uses third-person narration, shifting between all three siblings’ views. Each feels unworthy, left behind or betrayed and struggles with those feelings. In time, they learn to accept themselves and each other.

Benway writes novels for teens and young adults. Her work has appeared in more than twenty languages. This novel won the 2017 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. It also won a PEN America Award in 2018.