The You I've Never Known

How do you live your life if your past is based on a lie? A new novel in both verse and prose from #1 New York Times bestselling author, Ellen Hopkins.

For as long as she can remember, it's been just Ariel and Dad. Ariel's mom disappeared when she was a baby. Dad says home is wherever the two of them are, but Ariel is now seventeen and after years of new apartments, new schools, and new faces, all she wants is to put down some roots. Complicating things are Monica and Gabe, both of whom have stirred a different kind of desire.

Maya's a teenager who's run from an abusive mother right into the arms of an older man she thinks she can trust. But now she's isolated with a baby on the way, and life's getting more complicated than Maya ever could have imagined.

Ariel and Maya's lives collide unexpectedly when Ariel's mother shows up out of the blue with wild accusations: Ariel wasn't abandoned. Her father kidnapped her fourteen years ago.

What is Ariel supposed to believe? Is it possible Dad's woven her entire history into a tapestry of lies? How can she choose between the mother she's been taught to mistrust and the father who has taken care of her all these years?

In bestselling author Ellen Hopkins's deft hands, Ariel's emotionally charged journey to find out the truth of who she really is balances beautifully with Maya's story of loss and redemption. This is a memorable portrait of two young women trying to make sense of their lives and coming face to face with themselves--for both the last and the very first time.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published: 01/24/2017
ISBN: 9781481442909
Pages: 608
Weight: 1.45lbs
Size: 8.60h x 5.90w x 1.90d

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 10/24/2016
Booklist 11/15/2016 pg. 53
Kirkus Reviews 12/15/2016
School Library Journal 01/01/2017 pg. 102
Voice of Youth Advocates 02/01/2017 - Recommended - Hard To Beat
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2018 - Below Average, With Minor Flaw

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 192992 / You I've Never Known
Reading Level: 4.7 / Interest Level: Upper Grade / Point Value: 12