Life, After

The intensely personal story of 16-year-old Dani and her family unfolds in the early years of the new millennium in Buenos Aires during Argentina's economic crisis ("It seemed like we lived in a country where every day the floor was sinking a little farther under our feet," she reflects). Her father lost his sister and her unborn child in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA building, a Jewish community center, and his clothing store has closed amid the economic tumult, leaving him "angry, unpredictable, and bitter." As such, money and food are scarce (Dani's father refuses to accept charity); additionally Dani's best friend has moved to Israel, her boyfriend's family is heading to Miami, and city violence is increasing. Dani's mother decides to move the family to Twin Lakes, N.Y., which they hope will be a financial and cultural refuge, but despite Dani's new friends, it is difficult to assimilate in post-9/11 America and to forget the tragedies in her past. The languid pace and wealth of details in Littman's (Purge) empathetic story magnifies its emotionally convincing and absorbing qualities. Ages 12–up. (July)