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Content snapshot
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Violence
Barely any
No violence; illness and death from radiation exposure is the central tragedy
Language
None
No profanity
Sexual Content
None
No sexual content; a tender connection between two teenagers
Substance Use
None
No substance use
Emotional Intensity
A lot
Grief, anticipatory loss, and the emotional risk of loving someone who will die; nuclear disaster as backdrop
What this book is about
Nyle lives with her grandmother on a Vermont sheep farm after a nuclear accident at a nearby power plant. When her grandmother takes in refugees from the radiation zone — including fifteen-year-old Ezra, who is slowly dying — Nyle must decide how close she can allow herself to get to someone she knows she'll lose. Hesse's YA novel is quiet and devastating, about love in the knowledge of loss.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Death of a teenager from radiation sickness
Nuclear accident and its aftermath
Grief and loss as central themes
Reader Verification
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