All That's Left to Say

by Emery Lord

Overview

A poignant and powerful story of a grieving girl willing to risk everything, perfect for fans of Robin Benway and Jandy Nelson.

On prom night, Hannah MacLaren sits in the headmaster's office in her fanciest dress, soaked to the bone. She is in huge trouble after pulling the fire alarm right as the prom queen was about to be crowned. But Hannah had her reasons . . .

One year ago, her cousin Sophie, who was also her best friend and the person she loved most in the world, died of an overdose. Drowning in grief, Hannah became obsessed with one question: Who gave Sophie those pills? Who is refusing to give her family the closure they deserve?

Then she concocted a plan: enroll at her cousin's fancy private school with a new look and a mouthful of lies, and finally uncover the truth.

But Hannah didn't expect all the lines to blur. She didn't expect Sophie's friends to be so complicated. She didn't expect to fall for her longtime enemy. Now, she must choose to either let herself really mourn Sophie and move on, or see her search through to its explosive end—even if it means destroying herself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681199412
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	07/18/2023
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 5.70(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	13 - 12 Years

About the Author

Emery Lord is the author of Open Road Summer, The Start of Me and You, and When We Collided. She lives in a pink row house in Cincinnati, with a husband, two rescue dogs, and a closet full of impractical shoes.

www.emerylord.com

Twitter: @emerylord

Editorial Reviews

05/29/2023

When her cousin Sophie dies from an opioid overdose, Maryland high school junior Hannah is devastated and bewildered; she and her family have no idea how or why Sophie had the pills. Seeking answers, Hannah collaborates with Sophie’s best friend Gabi to conceal her true identity behind a new look and enroll in Sophie’s prestigious private school, hoping to find the classmate Hannah believes gave Sophie the drugs. Though initially scornful of her new schoolmates’ wealth and privilege, the last thing Hannah expects to find at Ingleside Country Day School is a thoughtful companion in former debate competitor Christian Dailey. The nonlinear timeline—rendered in Hannah’s wry first-person voice and detailing events from before and after Sophie’s death—occasionally slows the pace of this tense novel, but nevertheless provides insight into Hannah’s motivations. Avoiding pat answers, Lord (The Map from Here to There) convincingly conveys the grief that Hannah feels over Sophie’s death, depicting via Hannah’s charade the lengths to which one might go when seeking healing and closure. Main characters read as white; context clues suggest racial diversity among the supporting cast. Ages 13–up. Agent: Taylor Martindale Kean, Full Circle Literary. (July)

Publishers Weekly

A tender, unsensational examination of what it means to love, to lose, and to live.” —Booklist, starred review

“This compelling read also offers an unexpectedly poignant picture of grief and the impact of secret addiction on those left behind. . . . Hand this novel to anyone who likes their heroines smart, their romantic leads supportive, and their plotlines insightfully substantive.” —BCCB

“An engrossing, thoughtful depiction of a tragedy.” —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

★ 09/01/2023

Gr 9 Up—The summer before their junior year of high school, Hannah's cousin Sophie dies from a drug overdose at a party. Utterly devastated, Hannah begins a relentless search into who gave Sophie the pills that caused her death. When she partners up with Sophie's best friend from school, who is also hunting down this mysterious person, the two hatch a plan: Hannah will transfer into their fancy private school for senior year in order to secretly investigate their remaining suspects. But will their search for answers provide healing and closure, or will it tear all of their relationships apart? This is an engrossing and poignant exploration of grief. Told in alternating time lines of Hannah's junior and senior years, the mystery of how Sophie got the pills that ended her life unfolds deliberately, but readers remain nonetheless engaged in unraveling clues alongside Hannah while also watching this obsession slowly ruin her. The major and minor characters all have depth, and the issues of substance addiction and abuse are explored in a nuanced and caring light. Empathetic teens will definitely be in tears by the end. VERDICT An important book to have in a high school collection, this is highly recommended.—Chelsey Masterson

School Library Journal

2023-05-09
A young woman struggles to accept the death of her cousin.

Smart, ambitious Hannah is blindsided when Sophie, the person she was closest to in the world, dies of an opioid overdose in a bathroom at a party at the beginning of her junior year in their Maryland town. Hannah had no idea Sophie was using and is lost in a haze of disbelief and sorrow. Narrated in the first person by Hannah, this poignant novel moves back and forth in time between the events of her junior and senior years, detailing a plan she and Gabi, Sophie’s best school friend, hatch to discover who sold Sophie the drugs. It details what unfolds when Hannah, previously scornful of prestigious private school Ingleside Country Day, which her wealthier cousin attended, decides to transfer there. The result is a mystery storyline that blends for the most part smoothly with an effective and achingly real exploration of the ripple effects of the grief felt by all who loved Sophie. This eventually leads to Hannah’s greater understanding of herself and the futility people often face in looking for individual villains when it comes to substance use disorder. The book also touches on how this epidemic affects different communities. An appealing romantic subplot between Hannah and her debate rival will pull readers in. Hannah and Sophie are cued White; there is ethnic diversity among secondary characters.

An engrossing, thoughtful depiction of a tragedy. (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews