Lies We Tell About the Stars

A teen searches for her missing best friend following a devastating earthquake in Nadler’s savvy and riveting debut. Seventeen-year-old Celeste and her BFF Nicky plan to one day attend MIT and join NASA, but Celeste’s struggle to finish her college applications and Nicky’s risky attempts to finance his education jeopardize their dream and strain their friendship. After an earthquake rocks her native San Francisco and Nicky inexplicably vanishes, Celeste’s family, assuming Nicky is dead, encourages her to grieve and focus on applying for college. But Celeste knows everything about Nicky, including his desire to “disappear for a while, to become somebody else.” Believing that he’s alive, Celeste and her diabetes alert dog, Ursa, team up with Meo, an enigmatic stranger with an unexpected connection to Nicky, to find him, along the way confronting hard truths about her relationships and her future. Propulsive close-third-person narration feels authentic as it reveals Celeste’s insecurities and chronicles her deepening attraction to Meo. Alternating chapters detail happenings from before the earthquake and count the days following the event, injecting suspense and drama into a tightly woven exploration of friendship, grief, and self-discovery. Celeste and Nicky cue as white; Meo is from Mexico. Ages 14–up. Agent: Molly Ker Hawn, David Higham Assoc. (Mar.)