Overview
For fans of You've Reached Sam and If I Stay, a hauntingly beautiful, ultimately hopeful novel-in-verse about a girl in between life and death, by National Book Award Finalist Amber McBride. Gospel is the Keeper of the Leaving Room--a place all young people must phase through when they die. The young are never ready to leave; they need a moment to remember and a Keeper to help their wispy souls along. When a random door opens and a Keeper named Melodee arrives, their souls become entangled. Gospel's seriousness melts and Melodee's fear of connection fades, but still--are Keepers allowed to fall in love? Now they must find a way out of the Leaving Room and be unafraid of their love. In a novel that takes place over four minutes, National Book Award finalist Amber McBride explores connection, memory, and hope in ways that are unforgettable and poignant.
Full Product Details
Author: Amber McBride
Publisher: St Martin's Press
Imprint: St Martin's Press
Dimensions:
Width: 13.70cm
, Height: 2.50cm
, Length: 21.00cm
Weight: 0.454kg
ISBN: 9781250908087
ISBN 10: 1250908086
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 14 October 2025
Recommended Age: From 12 to 18 years
Audience:
Young adult
,
Teenage / Young adult
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Availability: Not yet available
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.
Reviews
""Intimate and astonishing..."" -- Jason Reynolds, New York Times Bestselling Author
""Intimate and astonishing..."" -- Jason Reynolds, New York Times Bestselling Author ★ ""A 17-year-old guardian of the memories of recently deceased young people questions her purpose in the latest from National Book Award finalist McBride....McBride is a master of verse, weaving lines with emotion and character development, articulating pain and hope with an economy of words, and documenting Black lives with tenderness. Reverberating with a haunting trauma, this powerful narrative is packed with Black joy, queer love, and feminist defiance. Compelling and evocative: a must-read. Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Author Information
Amber McBride's debut young adult novel, Me (Moth), was a finalist for the National Book Awards and won the 2022 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent, among many other accolades. Her second young adult novel, We Are All So Good at Smiling, was a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and praised for offering ""important messages, uniquely delivered"" by Kirkus in a starred review. Gone Wolf, Amber McBride's middle grade fiction debut, was awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews. She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.
