Overview

A teen girl’s summer with her mother turns sinister in this gripping thriller about the insidious dangers of unwanted attention, from Printz Honor medal–winning and National Book Award finalist author Deb Caletti—perfect for fans of Courtney Summers’s Sadie. Sydney Reilly has a bad feeling about going home to San Francisco before she even gets on the plane. How could she not? Her mother is Lila Shore—the Lila Shore—a film star who prizes her beauty and male attention above all else…certainly above her daughter. But Sydney’s worries multiply when she discovers that Lila is involved with the dangerous Jake, an art dealer with shady connections. Jake loves all beautiful objects, and Sydney can feel his eyes on her whenever he’s around. And he’s not the only one. Sydney is starting to attract attention—good and bad—wherever she goes: from sweet, handsome Nicco Ricci, from the unsettling construction worker next door, and even from Lila. Behaviors that once seemed like misunderstandings begin to feel like threats as the summer grows longer and hotter. It’s unnerving, how beauty is complicated, and objects have histories, and you can be looked at without ever being seen. But real danger, crimes of passion, the kind of stuff where someone gets killed—it only mostly happens in the movies, Sydney is sure. Until the night something life-changing happens on the stairs that lead to the beach. A thrilling night that goes suddenly very wrong. When loyalties are called into question. And when Sydney learns a terrible truth: beautiful objects can break.

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9781534426979

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Reviews

Caletti is at the top of her game in this fully dimensional mystery... With a subtle, believable twist that encapsulates this particular mother/daughter relationship, Caletti delivers the near impossible: a page-turner grounded in thoughtful feminism. There are so many beautiful small touches, from the multiple meanings of the title to the sweet rituals Syd and Nicco develop to the importance of therapy to recover from trauma. Name recognition aside, this is a title deserving wide promotion and discussion. -- Booklist, starred review Syd's story outlines important, uncomfortable experiences many girls face without either flinching or offering a picture-perfect ending... A frank, engrossing examination of the ways society complicates young women's burgeoning sexuality. -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review Caletti (A Heart in a Body in the World) offers a riveting, meticulously plotted mystery with plenty of drama alongside an exploration of objectification and the male gaze. San Francisco's sandy beaches, unusual structures, and mysterious caves reflect Sydney's feelings of loneliness, eeriness, and passion, and her eventual sense of power. -- Publishers Weekly, starred review The plot is clearly inspired by the 1958 killing of Lana Turner's abusive boyfriend by her daughter (Lila is also embarking on a role in Peyton Place, just as Turner did), but even readers unfamiliar with that saga will catch the clear danger and the ramping up of tension here (chapters even open with references to evidence as exhibits ). Caletti uses the Turner incident as the scaffold for a gimlet-eyed examination of the vulnerability of women and, especially, teen girls in the contemporary world; of their objectification and agency and shame. She's unerring in her depiction of the microaggressions Syd experiences, the family's long history of domestic abuse, and of Jake himself, whose combination of likability, off-kilterness, and menace makes him plausible and plausibly difficult to leave for multiple reasons. This would partner superbly with Romanoff's Look (BCCB 3/20) for an exploration of the world's crippling scrutiny of and expectations for young women. -- BCCB, starred review Caletti's novel is a brilliant coming-of-age story wrapped in a page-turning thriller. The atmospheric San Francisco setting enhances the overall moodiness, anxiety, and restlessness of a young woman moving from girlhood to adulthood and finding herself under the male gaze for the first time. Sydney's understanding of herself and her place in the world is upended as she deals with best friends, first boyfriends, sexual harassment, and domestic abuse. Caletti's sharp, complex, well-drawn character will compel and delight readers. VERDICT Ultimately hopeful, this is one for fans of realistic contemporary dramas, with a side of mystery, and excellent writing throughout. -- School Library Journal, starred review

*CALETTI, Deb. Girl, Unframed. 368p. S. & S./Simon Pulse. Jun. 2020. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9781534426979. Gr 9 Up-Sixteen-year-old Sydney Reilly is headed home for the summer, although her sexpot actress mother's new house in San Francisco hardly qualifies as home for her. Sydney can't shake her sense of foreboding, which intensifies when her mother's new boyfriend is the only one at the airport to greet her. It's going to be a summer that she won't soon forget. Caletti's novel is a brilliant coming-of-age story wrapped in a page-turning thriller. The atmospheric San Francisco setting enhances the overall moodiness, anxiety, and restlessness of a young woman moving from girlhood to adulthood and finding herself under the male gaze for the first time. Sydney's understanding of herself and her place in the world is upended as she deals with best friends, first boyfriends, sexual harassment, and domestic abuse. Caletti's sharp, complex, well-drawn character will compel and delight readers. VERDICT Ultimately hopeful, this is one for fans of realistic contemporary dramas, with a side of mystery, and excellent writing throughout.-Elaine Baran Black, Georgia P.L. Svc., Atlanta -- School Library Journal STARRED REVIEW * June 2020 * On the face of it, fifteen-year-old Sydney Reilly's summer seems perfect, since she's spending it with her famous actress mother, Lila Shore, in a beachfront San Francisco mansion. Sydney doesn't live with her mother or see her very often, though, and self-absorbed Lila is as usual attached to a man: in this case, Jake Antonetti, currently some kind of art wheeler-dealer. Sydney does meet and embark on a romance with a boy, Nicco, but her joy with Nicco contrasts sharply with the increasingly ominous situation at Lila's house as Jake's shady dealings and physical abuse of Lila escalate and Sydney's forebodings of disaster prove correct. The plot is clearly inspired by the 1958 killing of Lana Turner's abusive boyfriend by her daughter (Lila is also embarking on a role in Peyton Place, just as Turner did), but even readers unfamiliar with that saga will catch the clear danger and the ramping up of tension here (chapters even open with references to evidence as exhibits ). Caletti uses the Turner incident as the scaffold for a gimlet-eyed examination of the vulnerability of women and, especially, teen girls in the contemporary world; of their objectification and agency and shame. She's unerring in her depiction of the microaggressions Syd experiences, the family's long history of domestic abuse, and of Jake himself, whose combination of likability, off-kilterness, and menace makes him plausible and plausibly difficult to leave for multiple reasons. This would partner superbly with Romanoff's Look (BCCB 3/20) for an exploration of the world's crippling scrutiny of and expectations for young women. DS -- BCCB *STARRED REVIEW* * June 1, 2020 * A brief list of court evidence prefaces each chapter of this suspenseful novel, indicating that a crime will be committed between its pages, which slowly reveal the wrongdoing and its perpetrator. Sydney Reilly, 15, dreads having to leave her Seattle academy to spend the summer with Lila, her movie star mother who is now renting a San Francisco home from her wealthy boyfriend, Jake. Sydney is wary of real estate developer and art collector Jake, a real man who shows signs of being abusive, but she adores his German shepherd, Max, who soon becomes her constant companion. She's on the beach with Max when she meets Nicco, a dog lover who offers an exciting, passionate distraction from the fear and uneasiness she feels at home. As her romance with Nicco intensifies, tensions rise between Lila and Jake and their arguments turn more violent. Caletti (A Heart in a Body in the World) offers a riveting, meticulously plotted mystery with plenty of drama alongside an exploration of objectification and the male gaze. San Francisco's sandy beaches, unusual structures, and mysterious caves reflect Sydney's feelings of loneliness, eeriness, and passion, and her eventual sense of power. Ages 14-up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (June) -- Publishers Weekly *STARRED* * May 4, 2020 * Caletti is at the top of her game in this fully dimensional mystery... With a subtle, believable twist that encapsulates this particular mother/daughter relationship, Caletti delivers the near impossible: a page-turner grounded in thoughtful feminism. There are so many beautiful small touches, from the multiple meanings of the title to the sweet rituals Syd and Nicco develop to the importance of therapy to recover from trauma. Name recognition aside, this is a title deserving wide promotion and discussion. -- Booklist, starred review A 16-year-old girl grapples with being objectified by men. Sydney Reilly had a standout school year with her friends in Seattle; the thought of leaving for a summer in San Francisco with her famous mother, Lila, instills dread. She has a deep sense that it is about to happen-she isn't sure exactly what, but something large that will change everything. At her mother's ocean-view home, she's alone with Lila and her new boyfriend, Jake Antonetti, a real estate agent-turned-art dealer. By turns needy and unavailable, Lila can seem more like the child than the parent. Syd hides out from Jake and Lila's fights, wandering nearby beaches, where she meets and is immediately drawn to Nicco Ricci. Her desire for him feels all-consuming, and their relationship immediately triggers Jake, who views her virginity as something he must protect. Between Jake, the leering construction worker next door, and creeps in the city, Syd faces a barrage of unwanted male attention. Lists of courtroom exhibits prefacing each chapter provide clues to the climax. Syd thoughtfully processes her burgeoning sexuality and the ugliness that it breeds in men, tracing its effects back to her mother's own experiences. Though the affluent backdrop provides little diversity, Syd's story outlines important, uncomfortable experiences many girls face without either flinching or offering a picture-perfect ending. All major characters are white. A frank, engrossing examination of the ways society complicates young women's burgeoning sexuality. (Fiction. 14-18) -- Kirkus Reviews, STARRED * May 1, 2020 * Caletti is at the top of her game in this fully dimensional mystery. As college student Sydney Reilly unfolds the story of her sixteenth summer in a San Francisco mansion with her movie-star mother, Lila Shore, what begins as a beautifully described moment of sexual awakening takes on Syd's growing feminism and refusal to be anyone's object. Chapter headings hint at the main event by listing exhibits from what we begin to realize is a murder trial. Raised by her maternal grandmother, Edwina, while her mother struggles to revive her flagging career, Syd is reluctant to leave her comfortable life in Seattle and spend the summer with egocentric, childlike Lila-especially with Lila's new boyfriend, shady art dealer Jake, living with them as well. Jake is alternately jealous of Syd's presence and uncomfortably attentive, judging her clothing, her activities, and especially her new boyfriend, Nicco. Tensions build to a riveting and realistic climax that recalls the Lana Turner/Cheryl Crane/Johnny Stompanato incident. With a subtle, believable twist that encapsulates this particular mother/daughter relationship, Caletti delivers the near impossible: a page-turner grounded in thoughtful feminism. There are so many beautiful small touches, from the multiple meanings of the title to the sweet rituals Syd and Nicco develop to the importance of therapy to recover from trauma. Name recognition aside, this is a title deserving wide promotion and discussion. -- Booklist, STARRED Review * April 15, 2020 *

Author Information

Deb Caletti is the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of over sixteen books for adults and young adults, including Honey, Baby, Sweetheart, a finalist for the National Book Award; A Heart in a Body in the World, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book; Girl, Unframed; and One Great Lie. Her books have also won the Josette Frank Award for Fiction, the Washington State Book Award, and numerous other state awards and honors, and she was a finalist for the PEN USA Award. She lives with her family in Seattle.

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