A “powerful” novel about an orphaned sixteen-year-old aspiring singer in 1960s England, from the author of Ruby and Gracie (Booklist).
1962. Confident, bright, and popular, Maggie Wheaton lives with her loving, wealthy parents in a close-knit Cambridgeshire village. But, just days after her sixteenth birthday, her world is destroyed: An accident kills both her parents, and then she suffers the ultimate betrayal when she learns a life-changing family secret. Maggie has no choice but to go and live with her appointed guardian, her mom’s dear friend Ruby Riordan, in the seaside town of Southend, where she sets out on a deliberate path of self-destruction. Will Ruby be able to save Maggie from herself, or is it all too little too late?
“Maxwell offers powerful testimony to strength, resilience, and what family and love should truly mean.” —Booklist
