The Weight of the Stars
$10.99 USD
Paperback
In this evocative and emotional YA romance, two girls spend every night listening for radio messages from space—and slowly falling in love.
Ryann Bird dreams of traveling across the stars. But she settles for acting out and skipping school.
Until she meets Alexandria, a furious loner. After a horrific accident leaves Alexandria with a broken arm, the girls are brought together despite themselves—and Ryann learns Alexandria’s secret: Her mother is an astronaut on a one-way trip past the edge of the solar system.
Every night, Alexandria waits for radio signals from her mother. And now Ryann lifts Alexandria onto the roof day after day, until the silence between them grows into friendship . . . and eventually something more.
K. Ancrum grew up in Chicago, Illinois, under the illusory rigor of the Chicago public school system. She attended Dominican University to study fashion merchandizing, but was lured into an English degree after spending too many nights experimenting with hard literary criticism and hanging out with unsavory types, like poetry students. Currently, she lives in River North, Chicago, and writes books at work when no one is looking.
“Ancrum plunges readers into a story with a lush, dark atmosphere; heartbreaking circumstances; bright, new love that blossoms from ugliness; and vividly real, magnetic characters.” —Booklist, starred review
“This is an unusual story—both in plot and how the narrative is tracked—that touches on sexual identity, friendship, nontraditional families, and the price of human space exploration. The characters' resilience and vulnerability are deftly handled . . . A satisfying read.” —Kirkus Reviews
"Ryann’s friend group is appealingly diverse, embodying a breadth of queer and straight presentations, varied ethnicities, and socioeconomic differences without reducing any of its members to stereotypes . . . Readers will still appreciate the prospect of space exploration, Ancrum’s spare, occasionally poetic style, and the hopeful, intensely satisfying ending." —The Bulletin
“This book is starlight on broken concrete, it's flowers on a broken rooftop, and it's a masterpiece.” —Seanan McGuire, New York Times–bestselling author
ISBN: 9781250101655
384 pages
5.3 X 8.2 X 1.2 inches | 0.7 lbs
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