cover image The Longings of Wayward Girls

The Longings of Wayward Girls

Karen Brown. Washington Square, $15.00 (315p) ISBN 978-1-4767-2491-1

At the age of 13, Sadie Watkins has always been on the lookout for excitement. She and her best friend Betty fill this desire by causing mischief such as stealing their mothers' cigarettes or sending fake love letters to a neighborhood outcast, a girl who then goes missing. Flash-forward to twenty20 years later, Sadie is married and living a comfortable life as a mother to two young children and wife to an attorney, but her need for adventure still remainshas not left. When her childhood crush Ray Filley returns to town, Sadie is swept up into an affair that disrupts the lives of those around her. Details about her mother's death and the missing girl start to emerge and this is something Sadie is not quite ready to face. In her full-length -novel debut, Brown (Little Sinners and Other Stories) writes from the perspective of Sadie's past and present in alternating chapters. She seamlessly joins the events to create a story full of tension and suspense with an ending that is unexpected. Agent: Samantha Shea, Georges Borchardt, Inc. (July)