Brady Mason’s Perfect Fit

Melleby (Winnie Nash Is Not Your Sunshine) considers the ways in which fashion can empower its wearer in this tender character-driven novel. Pragmatic 12-year-old Brady Mason believes that keeping her mouth shut and staying under the radar is the best way to handle the New Jersey foster home she shares with five other girls. But when Elena, the powerful editor of a fashion magazine to whom Brady bears a startling resemblance, reveals in a memoir that she gave a baby up for adoption 12 years prior, Brady allows her housemates to make social media posts declaring the pair’s possible relation. After a whirlwind of media attention, DNA tests affirm the youths’ assertion, and Brady is sent to live with Elena in her posh New York City townhouse. Elena’s attempts to incorporate Brady into her high-fashion lifestyle—purchasing Brady a stylish new wardrobe, enrolling her in a fancy private school—prompt in the tween feelings of nostalgia for her previous existence. Melleby’s extraordinary ability to render precisely drawn, nuanced characters navigating complex situations with humor makes this rags-to-riches tale of found family shine. Main characters are white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Jan.)