About this item
The Astonishing Color of After meets Eleanor & Park in this breathtaking and beautifully surreal story about a friendship between two teens that just might shake the earth around them or at the very least make them face some painful truths about the nature of what drives us apart ... and what brings us together.Billy Sloat and Lydia Lemon don't have much in common, unless you count growing up on the same (wrong) side of the tracks, the lack of a mother, and a persistent loneliness that has inspired creative coping mechanisms. When the lives of these two loners are thrust together, Lydia's cynicism is met with Billy's sincere optimism, and both begin to question their own outlook on life. On top of that, weird happenings including an impossible tornado and an all-consuming fog are cropping up around them - maybe even because of them. And as the two grow closer and confront bigger truths about their pasts, they must also deal with such inconveniences as a narcissistic rock star, a war between unicorns and dragons, and eventually, of course, the apocalypse. With a unique mix of raw emotion, humor, and heart, the surreal plotline pulls readers through an epic exploration of how caring for others makes us vulnerable - and how utterly pointless life would be if we didn't.
About the Author
Amy Reed was born and raised in and around Seattle, where she attended a total of eight schools by the time she was eighteen. Constant moving taught her to be restless, and being an only child made her imagination do funny things. After a brief stint at Reed College (no relation) , she moved to San Francisco and spent the next several years serving coffee and getting into trouble. She eventually graduated from film school, promptly decided she wanted nothing to do with filmmaking, returned to her original and impractical love of writing, and earned her MFA from New College of California. After thirteen years in the Bay Area, she now resides in Asheville, North Carolina.Amy is the award-winning author of BEAUTIFUL (2009) , CLEAN (2011) , CRAZY (2012) , OVER YOU (2013) , and DAMAGED (2014) , all with Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster. Her two-book series, INVINCIBLE (2015) and UNFORGIVABLE (2016) were published by Katherine Tegen/Harper Collins. She then returned to Simon Pulse for THE THE NOWHERE GIRLS (2017) , the anthology OUR STORIES, OUR VOICES (2018) , and THE BOY AND GIRL WHO BROKE THE WORLD (July 2019) . TELL ME MY NAME, her feminist, gender-swapped Great Gatsby adaptation and psychological thriller (2021) is published by Dial/Penguin-Random House.Amy is a feminist, mother, and Virgo who enjoys running, making lists, and wandering around the mountains of western North Carolina where she lives. You can find her online at amyreedfiction.com and on social media @amyreedfiction.