The Lifeboat Clique

Denver Reynolds, 16, is an outcast at school, while her former best friend, Abigail, somehow made the leap to the popular crowd. After a small earthquake, Abigail throws a party at an empty house in Malibu, and Denver crashes it. When a bigger earthquake hits, it sends a tsunami sweeping across Malibu. Abigail, Denver, and several other popular kids end up stuck in a lifeboat—bickering, freaking out, and sometimes leaning on each other. Parks (the author of Sisters of Shiloh and other novels for adults as Kathy Hepinstall) gives Denver a whip-smart, hilarious voice as she delivers sardonic commentary on popularity and their dwindling hopes of survival (“I can’t recommend apocalypse in the springtime highly enough”). Part adventure, part sly critique of high school politics, Parks’s novel only dips during flashbacks to Denver’s collapsing friendship with Abigail. It’s a sweet, moving novel about loss, friendship, and the will to both live and forgive. Ages 13–up. [em]Agent: Mollie Glick, Foundry Literary + Media. (Mar.) [/em]