The Truth About Everything

Farr (Margie Kelly Breaks the Dress Code) explores themes of impending adulthood, growing apart, and challenging assumptions in this thought-provoking novel. Fifteen-year-old Lark Herbst has spent her entire life in rural Montana fortifying her home for potential imminent disaster with her doomsday-prepper, conspiracy-theorist parents. Though she can catch and gut fish like a pro, cultivate crops, and rewire a truck, she was never taught how to read. Her parents keep her isolated, steering clear of anything tangentially linked to the government, including public school. But when she gets her first period—and, unfamiliar with reproduction, believes she has miscarried despite never having had sex—she becomes privy to her naivety regarding the world outside her family’s compound. Unbeknownst to her parents, Lark enrolls in and attends school for the very first time, and as she breaks free from what she now recognizes as her elders’ indoctrination, Lark is forced to relearn everything she thought she knew—a task with profound consequences for both her family and herself. Farr’s uncomplicated prose complements a fast-paced plot with intense interpersonal stakes, as Lark evolves from a timid if stubborn recluse into a credibly resolute protagonist in this hopeful tale. Ages 14–up. Agent: Melissa Edwards, Stonesong Literary. (Oct.)