Trail of Crumbs

by Lisa J. Lawrence

Overview

After moving into a dank and drafty basement suite in West Edmonton with her truck-driving father, nasty stepmother, and Ash, her taciturn twin brother, seventeen-year-old Greta doesn't have high expectations for her last year of high school.

When she blacks out at a party and is told the next day that she's had sex, she thinks things can't get any worse. She's wrong. While Greta deals with the confusion and shame of that night, her stepmother and father choose that moment to disappear, abandoning Ash and Greta to the mercy of their peculiar landlord, Elgin, who lives upstairs. Even as Greta struggles to make sense of what happened to her, she finds herself enjoying her new and very eccentric family, who provide the shelter and support that has long been absent from her life. Much to Greta's surprise, she realizes there is still kindness in the world—and hope.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459821231
Publisher:	Orca Book Publishers
Publication date:	03/26/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

Lisa J. Lawrence grew up as a free-range kid in small towns in British Columbia and Alberta. She currently works as a writer and Spanish teacher in Edmonton, Alberta, where she lives with her husband and three children. Her first novel, Rodent, was nominated for numerous awards.

Editorial Reviews

"An easy read, with well-developed writing and plotting…While the story is not picturesque, it is raw and emotional, allowing the door to be opened for many different sensitive conversations. Highly Recommended."

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

"Fans of slow and serious emotional journeys of survival, like Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, Sara Zarr's Story of a Girl, or Ashley Herring Blake's Girl Made of Stars, will find Greta's story especially moving"

School Library Journal

"A painful, relevant and beautiful story…This is a very important book. It’s full of great characters, relevant experiences and messages that younger (and probably some older) readers need to hear."

Milliebot Reads blog

"Lawrence has an admirable relationship with the written word, and after many chapters of sharp edges and dark corners, readers will discover reason for hope."

Kirkus Reviews

"An easy read, with well-developed writing and plotting…While the story is not picturesque, it is raw and emotional, allowing the door to be opened for many different sensitive conversations. Highly Recommended."

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

For fans of realistic fiction…as in Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak.”

Youth Services Book Reviews

"With realistic and appealing characters and a delicately constructed plot, this is a well-told story of strength, grace, and growth."

Booklist

Realistic and in-depth…Thus incredibly written story deals with several tough aspects of our modern life, while still managing to maintain and give hope to its readers…an excellent reminder that when difficult times come your way, you should never give up hope.”

Canadian Children's Booknews

This book offers a grand slam of excellent writing, well-developed characters, a compelling plot and a universal theme.”

Must Read Literature: K thru YA

"Subtle and nuanced, Trail of Crumbs takes readers on an unapologetic journey of family, trauma and the transformative power of kindness. Lisa J. Lawrence's storytelling devastates readers one moment, then lifts them up in another, leaving them thinking of Greta and Ash's story long after the last page has been read."

author of In the Key of Nira Ghani Natasha Deen

"This is an exciting YA title…A taut page-turner…Strong characterization for both the main and secondary characters made this a treat to read. Even though this book was about a pretty heavy-duty topic, Lawrence actually made room for some humour and love of food. Highly recommended."

Resource Links

"With realistic and appealing characters and a delicately constructed plot, this is a well-told story of strength, grace, and growth."

Booklist

2018-12-09

Fire up your Coleman lanterns: Greta needs all the light and warmth she can get in this story of abandonment, poverty, and sexual assault.

Greta and her twin, Ash, have every element of a tragic life: a very wicked stepmother, a spineless and pathetic father, and being abandoned in the middle of a brutal Edmonton winter with no heat except from an oven, no food, and no rent money. As if that wasn't enough, Greta is also suffering following a sexual assault and the subsequent ostracism and bullying by the cool kids at her high school. The cast of supporting characters in Greta's story have enough emotional issues to keep a team of psychologists working around the clock: Greta's withdrawn brother, an elderly, track-shorts-wearing landlord, his estranged tough-talking daughter, and a lonely neighbor kid. Greta longs to re-create a family that has only been a memory for years but still possesses enough grit to get some sense of closure and justice from those who harmed her. Nothing is candy-coated: The writing includes the blunt language one would expect in this treatment of the very important topics of sexual assault and victim blaming that will resonate with and inform readers. Main characters present as white, but names suggest some diversity among Greta's classmates.

Lawrence (Rodent, 2016) has an admirable relationship with the written word, and after many chapters of sharp edges and dark corners, readers will discover reason for hope. (afterword) (Fiction. 14-19)

Kirkus Reviews