Little Do We Know

Starred review from April 9, 2018
Despite their different personalities, Emory and Hannah have been best friends and next-door neighbors since childhood. But after a bitter argument, which ends with Emory calling Hannah a “sheep” for always following her minister father’s beliefs, the two don’t speak as they continue their senior years at separate high schools. Emory focuses on her lead role in a school play and her forthcoming acting audition at UCLA. Hannah continues to play the role of devoted daughter at the Christian school where her father is principal, but she is haunted by Emory’s words and begins to question everything she’s been taught. Then Hannah finds Emory’s boyfriend Luke unconscious in front of her house, changing the lives of all three teens. Touching on weighty issues, including sexual harassment, religious crises, friendship, and taboo love, Stone (Time Between Us) writes a thought-provoking novel that challenges conventional ideas. With well-developed detail, the characters have realistic vulnerabilities and experience profound transformations that lead them to look at the world differently. Ages 14–18. Agent: Caryn Wiseman, Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

A bitter argument has ruined the friendship between Hannah and Emory--now both are counting the days until the end of their senior year. Hannah led a strongly spiritual life until she learned that her father traded her college fund to hire a pricey music director at his Christian school. Narrator Eevin Hartsough registers the outrage Hannah feels for her father's financial decision and the overwhelming questioning it has precipitated in her own life. Emory is marking the days left before college separates her from her boyfriend, Luke. Narrator Lori Gardner expresses her tenderness for him and, more subtly, her abhorrence for the man who is soon to be her stepfather. Luke's near death puts all the characters through crises of faith before they reveal secrets and truths that reconfirm the importance of their relationships. S.W. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine