Phoenix Rising
Square Fish · Paperback · February 17, 2009
Nyle's life with her grandmother on their Vermont sheep farm advances rhythmically through the seasons until the night of the accident at the Cookshire nuclear power plant.
We earn from qualifying purchases.
- Who it’s for
- A steady, intimate coming-of-age story set against the upheaval of nuclear fallout.
- Themes
- Nuclear-accident fallout, Grief and loss, Trust and emotional openness
- Pacing
- Mixed
Nearest books
Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved.
Remember USJacqueline Woodson54% matchShares Growing Up
Saving SkyDiane Stanley58% match
The Wrong Way HomeKate O'Shaughnessy56% matchShares Growing Up
The Benefits of Being an OctopusAnn Braden56% match
Miracle SeasonBeth Hautala55% match
Echo MountainLauren Wolk54% match
CapriceCoe Booth54% matchShares Growing Up
All the Impossible ThingsLindsay Lackey53% match
For older readers: The Roof Over Our Heads, If Only, Vaulting Through Time
Start with three books, and this one can be the first.
Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.
Start with this bookAbout this book
Nyle's life with her grandmother on their Vermont sheep farm advances rhythmically through the seasons until the night of the accident at the Cookshire nuclear power plant. Without warning, Nyle's modest world fills with protective masks, evacuations, contaminated food, disruptions, and mistrust. Nyle adjusts to the changes. As long as the fallout continues blowing to the East, Nyle, Gran, and the farm can go on.
Continue reading
But into this uncertain haven stumble Ezra Trent and his mother, "refugees" from the heart of the accident, who take temporary shelter in the back bedroom of Nyle's house. The back bedroom is the dying room: It took her mother when Nyle was six; it stole away her grandfather just two years ago. Now Ezra is back there and Nyle doesn't want to open her heart to him. Too many times she's let people in, only to have them desert her. Karen Hesse's voice and vision are grounded in truth; she takes on a nearly unharnessable subject, contains it, and makes it resonate with honesty. Part love story, part coming of age, Phoenix Rising is a tour de force by a gifted writer.
Quietly Unsettled
A steady, intimate coming-of-age story set against the upheaval of nuclear fallout.
Come here for
- Seasonal farm life disrupted by a distant disaster
- A guarded heart making room for trust
Expect
- A measured, accessible narrative
- Coming-of-age and love story elements
Where it sits
| Illness & Injury | 70% |
|---|---|
| Multigenerational Families | 55% |
| Growing Up | 35% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Multigenerational Families
- Illness & Injury
- Authors
- Karen Hesse
- Publisher
- Square Fish
- Published
- February 17, 2009
- Format
- Paperback
- Theme
- Nuclear-accident fallout · Grief and loss · Trust and emotional openness
- Reading lane
- Multigenerational Families