Miles from Ordinary ~ Carol Lynch Williams

Miles from Ordinary
St Martin's Griffin
March 15, 2011
208 pages
buy/more info at: Amazon

This summer day is going to be a fresh start both for fourteen-year-old Lacey and her mother. Lacey has a job at the library and her mother has one at Winn-Dixe, both of them have their first days today.

It's also going to be a day where Lacey gets to follow in her Aunt Linda's foot steps and work by working the library-something she knows she'll love. And, most of all, it's s a day where she won't have to look after her Momma, something she's been having to do more and more, lately.

But when, due to her Momma, Lacey's day doesn't go as planned, readers get to see just what Lacey's been dealing with at home and her hope of being normal for a day flies out the window.


Miles from Ordinary is a novel to pick up when you are going to have several hours to read it start to finish, not if you only have twenty minutes to see if you'll like it. It's one that gets you right from the beginning and because it's about a single day in the main character's life and there aren't gaps in time, it feels even more like something you need to read through right to the end.

Though it is just one day in Lacey's life, through memories she has, we learn a lot about her, her mother, her aunt and their lives and how Lacey's mother has affected her life, especially, at school.

Like The Chosen One it's the story of a young teenage girl who's held captive by something physically and/or emotionally and feels incredibly alone. But who's also trying to, maybe find a way out.

There are more things that happen (that are in other summaries) but because they happen a quarter or so of the way through the book and it is only 197 pages, I'm wary of including them. I will say that I love them and they add a lot to both Lacey's day and the story.

I think Carol Lynch Williams is quickly becoming (or has already quickly become) someone that readers can easily look to for powerful young adult literary fiction. (And stories that I think adults will also enjoy.)

10/10

Humongous thank you to Paul from @StMartinsPress for sending me this book (and absolutely making my day)