Charlie and her dad are spending summer break—as they always do—with her grandfather in the small Australian town where Charlie’s parents grew up. Songwriting is Charlie’s secret outlet for pain and frustration around the death of her mother seven years before. Rose lives next door to Charlie’s grandfather and has not only ignored Charlie during her visits over the years but mocked her behind her back. But now Rose has won a scholarship to attend the last two years of high school in the city where Charlie lives. Her parents think she’s too young to go on her own, and Rose has decided to befriend Charlie in the hopes their friendship will convince her mom and dad to let her go. A social outsider, Charlie is initially suspicious of Rose’s overtures but soon is drawn into the circle that includes Rose, Rose’s boyfriend, Luke, and Dave—a boy who has always offered her kindness. Alternating chapters from Charlie and Rose’s perspective offer insight into each girl’s life. Charlie’s ever-expanding emotional distance from her still-grieving dad, and Rose’s ever-more-desperate feeling that she’ll be trapped in the small town forever, are powerful forces in a beautifully written young adult novel that chronicles a burgeoning but tenuous friendship. Every character in Cath Crowley’s quiet masterpiece is multi-dimensional, achingly real, and worthy of a novel of their own. (Age 13 and older)

A summer of friendship, romance, and songs in major chords. . . .

CHARLIE DUSKIN loves music, and she knows she's good at it. But she only sings when she's alone, on the moonlit porch or in the back room at Old Gus's Secondhand Record and CD Store. Charlie's mom and grandmother have both died, and this summer she's visiting her grandpa in the country, surrounded by ghosts and grieving family, and serving burgers to the local kids at the milk bar. She's got her iPod, her guitar, and all her recording equipment, but she wants more: A friend. A dad who notices her. The chance to show Dave Robbie that she's not entirely unspectacular.

ROSE BUTLER lives next door to Charlie's grandfather and spends her days watching cars pass on the freeway and hanging out with her troublemaker boyfriend. She loves Luke but can't wait to leave their small country town. And she's figured out a way: she's won a scholarship to a science school in the city, and now she has to convince her parents to let her go. This is where Charlie comes in. Charlie, who lives in the city, and whom Rose has ignored for years. Charlie, who just might be Rose's ticket out.

Told in alternating voices and filled with music, friendship, and romance, Charlie and Rose's "little wanting song" is about the kind of longing that begins as a heavy ache but ultimately makes us feel hopeful and wonderfully alive.


From the Hardcover edition.