The Usual Rules: A Novel

Set against the backdrop of global and personal tragedy, and written in a style alternately wry and heartbreaking, Joyce Maynard's The Usual Rules is an unexpectedly hopeful story of healing and forgiveness that will offer readers, young and old alike, a picture of how, out of the rubble, a family rebuilds its life.

It's a Tuesday morning in Brooklyn---a perfect September day. Wendy is heading to school, eager to make plans with her best friend, worried about how she looks, mad at her mother...