A Heart in a Body in the World, Hardcover

Contributor(s):

• Author: Deb Caletti

"This is one for the ages." --Gayle Forman, author of the #1 bestseller If I Stay
"Equal parts heartbreaking and hopeful...reads like a battle cry for young women in the #MeToo era." --BookPage

Each step on Annabelle's 2,700 mile cross-country run brings her closer to facing a trauma from her past in National Book Award finalist Deb Caletti's novel about the heart, all the ways it breaks, and its journey to healing. Because sometimes against our will, against all odds, we go forward.

When everything has been taken from you, what else is there to do but run?

So that's what Annabelle does--she runs from Seattle to Washington, DC, through mountain passes and suburban landscapes, from long lonely roads to college towns. She's not ready to think about the why yet, just the how--muscles burning, heart pumping, feet pounding the earth. But no matter how hard she tries, she can't outrun the tragedy from the past year, or the person--The Taker--that haunts her.

Followed by Grandpa Ed in his RV and backed by her brother and two friends (her self-appointed publicity team), Annabelle becomes a reluctant activist as people connect her journey to the trauma from her past. Her cross-country run gains media attention and she is cheered on as she crosses state borders, and is even thrown a block party and given gifts. The support would be nice, if Annabelle could escape the guilt and the shame from what happened back home. They say it isn't her fault, but she can't feel the truth of that.

Through welcome and unwelcome distractions, she just keeps running, to the destination that awaits her. There, she'll finally face what lies behind her--the miles and love and loss...and what is to come.
 
Review citations

• Horn Book Magazine - pg. 78 - 11/01/2018
• Publishers Weekly / Best Of The Best/Highly Recommended - 07/30/2018
• Publishers Weekly / Exceptional Presentation - 07/30/2018
• Publishers Weekly / Book Of Special Distinction - 07/30/2018
• Publishers Weekly / Top 15 Book Of The Year - 07/30/2018
• Publishers Weekly / Highly Recommended - 07/30/2018
• Booklist / Best Of The Best/Highly Recommended - pg. 92 - 06/01/2018
• Booklist / Exceptional Presentation - pg. 92 - 06/01/2018
• Booklist / Book Of Special Distinction - pg. 92 - 06/01/2018
• Booklist / Top 15 Book Of The Year - pg. 92 - 06/01/2018
• Booklist / Highly Recommended - pg. 92 - 06/01/2018
• Kirkus Reviews / Best Of The Best/Highly Recommended - pg. 119 - 06/15/2018
• Kirkus Reviews / Exceptional Presentation - pg. 119 - 06/15/2018
• Kirkus Reviews / Book Of Special Distinction - pg. 119 - 06/15/2018
• Kirkus Reviews / Top 15 Book Of The Year - pg. 119 - 06/15/2018
• Kirkus Reviews / Highly Recommended - pg. 119 - 06/15/2018
• School Library Journal - pg. 70 - 07/01/2018
• Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks / Best Of The Best/Highly Recommended - 09/01/2018
• Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks / Exceptional Presentation - 09/01/2018
• Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks / Book Of Special Distinction - 09/01/2018
• Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks / Top 15 Book Of The Year - 09/01/2018
• Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks / Highly Recommended - 09/01/2018
• BookPage - 10/01/2018