Stay with Me

Sixteen-year-old Leila Abranel was born some twenty years after her sisters. Her elegant sisters from her father’s first marriage have lives full of work, love affairs, and travel. Leila doesn’t know either of them very well, but she loves hearing about them—details of Rebecca’s ruined marriage, Clare’s first job, and the strings of unsuitable boyfriends. When Rebecca kills herself, Leila wants to know why. She starts by spending time with Clare and finally comes to know her as a person instead of a story. With Clare’s reluctant help, Leila tracks down Rebecca’s favorite places and tries to find her sister’s friends. Along the way, Leila meets Eamon. Eamon is thirty-one and writes for television. He thinks Leila is beautiful and smart, but he does not, he tells her, date teenagers. And yet, the months go by and Leila turns seventeen and learns that you can love someone you are not dating. Maybe letting Eamon love her back is a mistake. Maybe she’ll never know why Rebecca did what she did. Maybe, Leila, decides, most people have a hard time figuring out which way is left or knowing when to let go and when to stay. What happens when the search for answers about the past leads to a love that could define your future? Age Gap Romance: Sixteen-year-old Leila and thirty-one-year-old Eamon navigate an intense, complicated connection he insists can’t happen—and a love she can’t ignore. A Sister's Suicide: In the devastating aftermath of her sister Rebecca’s death, Leila is left to piece together the life of a sibling she barely knew, searching for a reason that may not exist. Uncovering Family Secrets: Leila’s investigation into the past unearths the Abranel family’s true history, forcing her to find her own place in a story that began long before she was born. Literary Young Adult Fiction: A poignant and beautifully written novel about the complexities of grief, the bonds of sisterhood, and the painful, messy, and hopeful process of growing up.