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You'd Be Home Now
Cover of You'd Be Home Now
You'd Be Home Now
Borrow Borrow
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the critically acclaimed author of Girl in Pieces comes a stunning novel that Vanity Fair calls “impossibly moving” and “suffused with light”. In this raw, deeply personal story, a teenaged girl struggles to find herself amidst the fallout of her brother's addiction in a town ravaged by the opioid crisis.
For all of Emory's life she's been told who she is. In town she's the rich one—the great-great-granddaughter of the mill's founder. At school she's hot Maddie Ward's younger sister. And at home, she's the good one, her stoner older brother Joey's babysitter. Everything was turned on its head, though, when she and Joey were in the car accident that killed Candy MontClaire. The car accident that revealed just how bad Joey's drug habit was.
Four months later, Emmy's junior year is starting, Joey is home from rehab, and the entire town of Mill Haven is still reeling from the accident. Everyone's telling Emmy who she is, but so much has changed, how can she be the same person? Or was she ever that person at all?
Mill Haven wants everyone to live one story, but Emmy's beginning to see that people are more than they appear. Her brother, who might not be "cured," the popular guy who lives next door, and most of all, many "ghostie" addicts who haunt the edges of the town. People spend so much time telling her who she is—it might be time to decide for herself.
A journey of one sister, one brother, one family, to finally recognize and love each other for who they are, not who they are supposed to be, You'd Be Home Now is Kathleen Glasgow's glorious and heartbreaking story about the opioid crisis, and how it touches all of us.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the critically acclaimed author of Girl in Pieces comes a stunning novel that Vanity Fair calls “impossibly moving” and “suffused with light”. In this raw, deeply personal story, a teenaged girl struggles to find herself amidst the fallout of her brother's addiction in a town ravaged by the opioid crisis.
For all of Emory's life she's been told who she is. In town she's the rich one—the great-great-granddaughter of the mill's founder. At school she's hot Maddie Ward's younger sister. And at home, she's the good one, her stoner older brother Joey's babysitter. Everything was turned on its head, though, when she and Joey were in the car accident that killed Candy MontClaire. The car accident that revealed just how bad Joey's drug habit was.
Four months later, Emmy's junior year is starting, Joey is home from rehab, and the entire town of Mill Haven is still reeling from the accident. Everyone's telling Emmy who she is, but so much has changed, how can she be the same person? Or was she ever that person at all?
Mill Haven wants everyone to live one story, but Emmy's beginning to see that people are more than they appear. Her brother, who might not be "cured," the popular guy who lives next door, and most of all, many "ghostie" addicts who haunt the edges of the town. People spend so much time telling her who she is—it might be time to decide for herself.
A journey of one sister, one brother, one family, to finally recognize and love each other for who they are, not who they are supposed to be, You'd Be Home Now is Kathleen Glasgow's glorious and heartbreaking story about the opioid crisis, and how it touches all of us.
Available formats-
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB eBook
Languages:-
Copies-
  • Available:
    1
  • Library copies:
    1
Levels-
  • ATOS:
    4.0
  • Lexile:
  • Interest Level:
    UG
  • Text Difficulty:
    2 - 3


Excerpts-
  • From the book

    My sister, Maddie, is crying, her pretty face damp and frightened. One of my legs is heavier than the other and I don’t understand and I want to ask her why, but I can’t form words, because there’s an ocean inside me, warm and sweet, and I’m bobbing along the waves, just like the ones that carried me and Joey all those years ago in San Diego, when everything was perfect or as close to it as we could get. That was a nice time, when I was twelve and Joey was thirteen, letting the waves carry us, Maddie stretched out on the beach in her purple bikini and floppy-brimmed hat. Far away from Mill Haven, we were in a different world, where no one knew who we were.

    I try to ask Maddie where Joey is, but she can’t understand me. She thinks I’m saying something else, because she leans forward and says, “Do you need more? Do you need me to press the button?”

    And her finger presses a button on the side of the bed and the largest wave I’ve ever known billows over me, like the parachute game we played in the gymnasium in kindergarten, all of us laughing as the fabric gently overtook us and blocked out the world.

    My mother’s voice is trembling. “This is not normal. This is not something that happens to people like us.”

    My father sounds weary. He has been weary for years now. Joey makes people weary. 

    He says, “There is no normal, Abigail. Nothing has ever been normal. Why can’t you see that? He has a problem.” 

    My finger stretches out for the button to make the waves come again. My parents make me tired, years and years of fighting about Joey. 

    My mother’s hand touches my head. Like a kitten, I respond, leaning into it. I can’t remember the last time she touched me, stroked my hair. Everything has always been about Joey. 

    “There was heroin in his system, Abigail. How did we miss that?” 

    The word floats in the air before me, something eerie and frightening. 

    There was vomit spattered on his hoodie at the party. When we found him in the bedroom. He was woozy and floppy and strange and made no sense and I thought . . . 

    I thought he was just drunk. Stoned, maybe. 

    “I will fix this,” she says to my father. “He’ll go to rehab, he’ll get better, he’ll come home.”

    She says rehab in a clipped way, like it hurts to have the word in her mouth. 

    “That’s not a magic wand you can wave and make it all go away, Abigail. He could have died. Emory could have died. A girl did die.” 

    The ocean inside me, the one that was warm and wavy, freezes. 

    “What did you say?” I whisper. My voice feels thick. Can they understand me? I speak louder. “What did you just say?” 

    “Emory,” my father says. “Oh, Emory.” 

    My mother’s eyes are wet blue pools. She curls her fingers in my hair. 

    “You’re alive,” she tells me. “I’m so grateful you’re alive.” 

    Her face is blurry from the waves carrying me. I’m struggling inside them, struggling to understand.

    “But she just had a headache,” I say. “Candy just had a headache. She can’t be dead.” 

    My father frowns. “You aren’t making any sense, Emmy.” 

    She had a headache. That’s why she was in the car. She had a headache at the party, and she wanted a ride home and it can’t be right that a person has a headache and gets in a...

About the Author-
  • Kathleen Glasgow is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel Girl in Pieces as well as How to Make Friends with the Dark and You'd Be Home Now. She lives and writes in Tucson, Arizona. To learn more about Kathleen and her writing, visit kathleenglasgowbooks.com or follow @kathglasgow on Twitter and @misskathleenglasgow on Instagram.
Reviews-
  • Publisher's Weekly

    August 2, 2021
    Sixteen-year-old Emory Ward, who cues as white, feels invisible. After she and her older brother Joey are in a car crash that kills another student, and heroin is found in Joey’s system, her life fractures. Her friends abandon her for her perceived part in their classmate’s death; her relationship with Joey, even after he returns from rehab, isn’t the same; and she shoplifts to ease the pain of not being seen. The teens’ mother, whose family built the mill that gave their small town its name, expects too much of both recovering Joey and “good” child Emory, but connecting with friends old and new allows Emory to finally begin building self-confidence and meaningfully support her brother. Glasgow (How to Make Friends with the Dark) tackles such difficult topics as classism and bigotry in the educational system, and draws struggles with addiction, especially Joey’s, with remarkable compassion. A melodramatic twist in the third act unfortunately undercuts the nuance established by the book’s beginning, but Emory and Joey’s journeys and sibling relationship are memorable, and the conclusion admirably humanizes a group of people whom society frequently demonizes. Ages 14–up. Agent: Julie Stevenson, Massie & McQuilkin Literary.

  • School Library Journal

    Starred review from August 1, 2021

    Gr 9 Up-Emory Ward has spent her life living in the shadow of her beautiful older sister, her troubled brother, and her super successful parents who expect her to be perfect. After a summer of turmoil, Emory returns to school as an outcast-the sister of an addict who the whole town holds responsible for the death of a young girl, she struggles to make new friends and take care of her brother who seems dangerously close to a relapse all the time. A story on the surface that seems to focus around her brother's addiction and rehabilitation, it's really about Emmy's story of rehabbing who she is and who she wants to be. This portrays the very real struggles that many communities experience. The narrative presents a nuanced look at a family trying to keep their loved ones safe and the toll that addiction takes on all of its members. A heartbreaking yet important story that will resonate with many, it also brings home the effects that addiction can take on an entire community. VERDICT A must-have for all high school fiction collections.-Erica Coonelly, Monroe Township M.S., NJ

    Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

  • Booklist

    Starred review from August 1, 2021
    Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Everyone in Mill Haven has secrets--even smart, rich Emory Ward, kid sister to the beautiful Maddie and troubled Joey. The night she and Joey were passengers in a car crash that killed Candy MontClair, Emmy thought Joey was just drunk; no one knew the extent of his drug addiction until then. When Joey comes home after months of rehab, their mother instructs Emmy to be with Joey 24/7 to make sure he adheres to the suffocating volume of rules laid out for him. Emmy loves Joey and wants to help him stay strong, but she has her own secret struggles. With the help of unlikely but welcome allies, Emmy's love and support for her brother remain constant, especially when he feels lost and at his most fragile. Meanwhile, the realities of "ghosties"--homeless and drug addicted people living by the town's river--are exposed, compel action, and give new meaning to community. Told by Emmy, who courageously begins to shed the labels thrust upon her, Glasgow's new novel compassionately illustrates the profound power of love and how deeply the opioid crisis and addiction affect families and the towns in which they live. The play Our Town and the author's own recovery are the inspiration behind this remarkable and engrossing novel of life's balance and imbalance between struggle and joy.

    COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  • Kirkus

    Starred review from July 15, 2021
    A gut-wrenching look at how addiction affects a family and a town. Emory Ward, 16, has long been invisible. Everyone in the town of Mill Haven knows her as the rich girl; her workaholic parents see her as their good child. Then Emory and her 17-year-old brother, Joey, are in a car accident in which a girl dies. Joey wasn't driving, but he had nearly overdosed on heroin. When Joey returns from rehab, his parents make Emory his keeper and try to corral his addictions with a punitive list of rules. Emory rebels in secret, stealing small items and hooking up with hot neighbor Gage, but her drama class and the friends she gradually begins to be honest with help her reach her own truth. Glasgow, who has personal experience with substance abuse, bases this story on the classic play Our Town but with a twist: The characters learn to see and reach out to each other. The cast members, especially Emory and Joey, are exceptionally well drawn in both their struggles and their joys. Joey's addiction is horrifying and dark, but it doesn't define who he is. The portrayal of small-town life and its interconnectedness also rings true. Emory's family is White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast, and an important adult mentor is gay. Glasgow mentions in her author's note that over 20 million Americans struggle with substance abuse; she includes resources for teens seeking help. Necessary, important, honest, loving, and true. (Fiction. 14-18)

    COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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