Wishing Season

After her twin brother, Anders, dies of a sudden infection following a cancer diagnosis, 11-year-old Lily Neff “folded herself into his absence” until she finds him lingering near the tire swing in their Maine island’s woods, “real and present and hers” but invisible to everyone else. When summer arrives (which Anders calls “wishing season” thanks to the months’ plentiful dandelion puffs), Lily retreats daily to their secret meeting place—“the overlap”—for relief from their spiraling single mother, her callous former best friend, and her guilt around helping keep Anders’ symptoms secret from their mother. But Anders can’t move beyond the overlap, and Lily can’t know what being dead is like, making her feel less connected to him. When Anders doesn’t appear in the overlap, Lily distracts herself by helping teenager Quinn do chores for neighbors, and as Lily forges new relationships in her community, the overlap begins to shrink, leaving her wishing desperately for a way to control it. Building a small-town atmosphere via a frank third-person narration and concrete, considered prose, Rissi (Hide and Don’t Seek) renders an empathetic voice that cradles Lily’s grieving process and experience of change. Characters default to white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (June)