Laurel Everywhere - by Erin Moynihan (Paperback)

About the Book

Severe loss. For Laurel Summers, those two words don't cut it. They don't even come close. After a car wreck kills her mother and siblings, the ghosts of her family surround her as she wrestles with grief, anger, and the fear that she won't be enough to keep her dad alive either.

Book Synopsis

Fifteen-year-old Laurel Summers couldn't tell you the last words she spoke to her mother and siblings if her life depended on it. But she will never forget the image of her mother's mangled green car on the freeway, shattering the boring world Laurel had been so desperate to escape. Now she can't stop seeing the ghosts of her family members, which haunt her with memories of how life used to be back when her biggest problem was the kiss she shared with her best friend Hanna.

After the accident, Laurel and her dad are left to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. Her dad is struggling with his grief and depression, unable to cope with the loss of his family. He seeks a way out of his pain, leaving Laurel behind while he struggles to cope with his own mental illness. She is desperate to find a way to hold everything together again and help her father come to terms with the loss so he can come back to her.

Laurel tries to make sense of her pain with the help of her grandparents, her two best friends, and some random strangers. As she struggles to understand who she is without her family, she must come to terms with the items on her List of Things Not to Talk About, learn to trust her dad again, and--on top of it all--keep her heart open to love in the wake of her immense loss, eventually learning that it's okay to not be okay.

Review Quotes

A gem.

In the aftermath of the car crash that killed three members of 15-year-old Laurel's family, she and her father are left bereft and struggling, each in their own way.

Two weeks after the deaths of her mother; older brother, Rowan; and younger sister, Tansy, Laurel is found on a trail in the mountains east of Seattle by her best friend, Hanna. All Laurel recalls is her father's continuing to hike while she stopped to rest. Now he is nowhere to be found, leaving her in anguish. Fortunately, she has Hanna and Lyssa, their mutual friend, to support her, first as she waits for him to be found and then as he seeks inpatient treatment for his depression. Laurel's grief journey is presented in an insightful manner, detailing impulsive moves (like an illegal stick-and-poke tattoo), imagined visits from ghosts of her dead family, and hatred for the driver who caused the accident. Laurel is a strong first-person narrator, with a wry, believable voice that never seems pretentious or precious. Two well-handled subplots are Laurel and Hanna's slowly growing romantic attraction and Lyssa's positive experience with her foster family. Laurel and her siblings were each named for plants; the symbolism of laurel bushes, tansy flowers, and rowan trees is cleverly woven through the narrative. Most characters are White; Hanna is cued as biracial, with a White mother and dark-skinned father.

(resources, discussion guide) (Fiction. 13-18)

--Kirkus Reviews

With its themes of family, loss, sexuality, and self-discovery, Erin Moynihan's Laurel Everywhere is a touching and quirky coming-of-age story.

Written from Laurel's perspective, the story is sympathetic to first loves and heartbreaking loss. Laurel's confused feelings are rendered in sensitive prose, and the book is convincing in its portrayals of the pain of loss. Laurel's voice is loud and clear as she describes hating the man who was driving the truck that hit her family.

The book also centers self-awareness and growth. Laurel longs to be more comfortable in her own skin and to find coping mechanisms to deal with her loss. Though she uses some humor and distractions, she also talks to Ghost Mom to soothe herself and grapple with questions of how to move forward without her.

Laurel Everywhere is a tender, honest novel of self-discovery in which family and friends love and support a teenager through her challenging times.

--;/p>--Karla Strand "Foreword Review "

In Laurel Everywhere, Erin Moynihan takes the reader to the intersection of grief and identity and deftly illustrates how a family shattered by sudden loss can begin to put the pieces back together while honoring what it means to be human.

Suzy Vitello, Faultland

Laurel Everywhere is a deeply moving, startlingly real examination of trauma, tragedy, and the indefatigable strength of the human spirit when confronted with a world that won't stop turning in the face of loss.

Ava Morgan, Resurrection Girls

Despite the sorrow at the center of the story, the book leaves the reader with hope: that with support from others, and the inner strength we often discover in ourselves, life after loss--even great loss--not only continues, but holds the possibility of joy.

Avra Wing, After Isaac