"For years, Miranda has stared at postcards of August Isle, Florida. The town where her mother spent her summers as a girl. The town that Miranda has always ached to visit. She just never wanted it to happen this way. When she arrives on the Isle, alone and uncertain, to stay the summer with an old friend of her mother's, Miranda discovers a place even more perfect than she imagined. And she finds a new friend in Sammy, "Aunt" Clare's daughter. But there is more to August Isle than its bright streets andsandy beaches, and soon Miranda is tangled in a web of mysteries. A haunted lighthouse. An old seafarer with something to hide. A name reaching out from her mother's shadowy past. As she closes in on answers, Miranda must reckon with the biggest questionof all: Is she brave enough to face the truth she might uncover?"--Page [2] of cover. - (Baker & Taylor)

Sent by her mysteriously estranged parents to stay with friends in the coastal town where her mother spent her childhood summers, Miranda forges unexpected friendships, including a bond with an enigmatic seafarer, before stumbling on redemptive family secrets. 50,000 first printing. Simultaneous eBook. - (Baker & Taylor)

While spending the summer with her mother's old friend, twelve-year-old Miranda tries to uncover the mysteries behind her mother's past and to understand why her mother seems so distant. - (Baker & Taylor)

*A Junior Library Guild Selection*

From critically acclaimed author Ali Standish (The Ethan I Was Before), the story of one girl’s journey to a magical seaside town, where she uncovers her family’s long hidden secrets and ultimately finds truth and redemption.

Fans of Sharon Creech and Rebecca Stead will be captivated by this story filled with warm humor, mystery, whimsy, and characters you can’t let go. A modern classic in the making!

For years, Miranda has stared at postcards of August Isle, Florida. The town where her mother spent her summers as a girl. The town that Miranda has always ached to visit. She just never wanted it to happen this way.

When she arrives on the Isle, alone and uncertain, to stay the summer with an old friend of her mother’s, Miranda discovers a place even more perfect than she imagined. And she finds a new friend in Sammy, “Aunt” Clare’s daughter.

But there is more to August Isle than its bright streets and sandy beaches, and soon Miranda is tangled in a web of mysteries. A haunted lighthouse. An old seafarer with something to hide. A name reaching out from her mother’s shadowy past.

As she closes in on answers, Miranda must reckon with the biggest question of all: Is she brave enough to face the truth she might uncover?

“A beautifully written story. An emotional journey of family, friendship, loss, and healing.” —Kirkus

*A Junior Library Guild Selection*

From critically acclaimed author Ali Standish (The Ethan I Was Before), the story of one girl's journey to a magical seaside town, where she uncovers her family's long hidden secrets and ultimately finds truth and redemption.

Fans of Sharon Creech and Rebecca Stead will be captivated by this story filled with warm humor, mystery, whimsy, and characters you can't let go. A modern classic in the making!

For years, Miranda has stared at postcards of August Isle, Florida. The town where her mother spent her summers as a girl. The town that Miranda has always ached to visit. She just never wanted it to happen this way.

When she arrives on the Isle, alone and uncertain, to stay the summer with an old friend of her mother's, Miranda discovers a place even more perfect than she imagined. And she finds a new friend in Sammy, 'Aunt' Clare's daughter.

But there is more to August Isle than its bright streets and sandy beaches, and soon Miranda is tangled in a web of mysteries. A haunted lighthouse. An old seafarer with something to hide. A name reaching out from her mother's shadowy past.

As she closes in on answers, Miranda must reckon with the biggest question of all: Is she brave enough to face the truth she might uncover?

'A beautifully written story. An emotional journey of family, friendship, loss, and healing.' 'Kirkus

Booklist Reviews

Twelve-year-old Miranda, who feels rejected by her mother, spends a month on a Florida island with Mom's childhood friend Clare and her family. Miranda tries to conquer her deep-rooted fear of water during sailing lessons with Clare's daughter, Sammy, and their friend Caleb. Hoping to learn more about Mom's mysterious past on the island, Miranda and Sammy look for clues. When a dare leads to Miranda breaking into an apparently abandoned house, she's caught by the old man who lives there. Later, after a dramatic event uncovers buried memories, she begins to piece the past together in ways that may help her entire family move forward. It will come as no surprise that a tragic event in the past is the source of the family's multigenerational emotional turmoil, but the use of coincidences and a melodramatic plot twist undermine the story's credibility. Standish creates a number of sympathetic characters, though, and readers who enjoyed her first novel, The Ethan I Was Before (2017), may want to give this one a try. Grades 4-7. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

Horn Book Guide Reviews

Twelve-year-old Miranda is shipped off for a month to August Isle, the Florida island where her mother spent summers as a child. Miranda uncovers secrets from her mother's past and learns to face her fears--including that her often-absent mother, a photographer who eagerly accepts faraway assignments, doesn't love her anymore. Standish deftly explores guilt, fear, love, and the power of stories in this poignant tale. Copyright 2020 Horn Book Guide Reviews.

Kirkus Reviews

A family mythos spun with thread as fragile as tears can tangle into knots. Sometimes the threads break. Miranda's grandparents on her mother's side have always been a secret, one of the many mysteries that lie between her and her beautiful yet elusive mother. The summer before eighth grade, Miranda is mired in a web of fears and anxiety. The fabric connecting her and her mother feels threadbare. Her mother, a freelance photographer who travels the world, always appears so fearless. But she is distant, and Miranda is desperate to uncover what she must've done to make her mother always choose to leave her. When a great career opportunity arises for her mom to go to Argentina while her lawyer dad is preparing a big case, Miranda gets the chance to visit August Isle and stay with one of her mom's old friends who has a daughter her age. Why has mom never visited the place where she grew up? Finally, she might be able to answer her questions. The result is a beautifully written st ory, lush as a Florida mangrove. Standish introduces young readers to a concept that's foreign to many at their age: that grown-ups can suffer deep emotional pain same as young people. Miranda is white, and the book adheres to the white default; her mom's friend's husband is Indian, and their children are biracial and brown-skinned. An emotional journey of family, friendship, loss, and healing. (Fiction. 10-14) Copyright Kirkus 2019 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Reviews

Gr 4 Up—The summer before Miranda starts eighth grade, her parents send her to August Isle, FL, to stay with her mother's ex-best friend and family. Miranda is eager to explore the bright streets and sandy beaches with Aunt Clare's daughter, Sammy. But mysteries abound. Why doesn't Miranda's mother want to be with her? Why did she throw out all of Clare's August Isle postcards? Why is Miranda so afraid of the sea? Who was Ben, a boy who apparently knew Clare and Miranda's mother when they were younger? Miranda is determined to overcome her fears and find answers. This book employs many well-worn tropes. There's a distant parent who has a painful secret, girls who look exactly like their mothers as children, an obnoxious boy who becomes their friend because there is nobody else to hang out with, a mysterious old man in the dilapidated house who just returned from years at sea, a nearby island where Something Bad happened in the past, and several locals who know what happened but won't tell the kids. Of course, Miranda disobeys warnings and sails to the forbidden island. History is repeated in a climactic scene and the truth is finally revealed. Although the plot is nothing new, Standish has created engaging characters, a pleasant setting, and enough intrigue to hook young readers. VERDICT A general purchase for fans of light summer mysteries.—Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT