Come Down Somewhere, Jennifer L. Wright
Come Down Somewhere, Jennifer L. Wright
List: $24.95 | Sale: $17.47
Club: $12.47

Come Down Somewhere

Author: Jennifer L. Wright

Narrator: Sarah Zimmerman

Unabridged: 10 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/06/2022


Synopsis

For fans of WWII fiction comes a powerful novel by Jennifer L. Wright about two young women coming of age during the Trinity nuclear bomb test in 1945.

Sixteen-year-old Olive Alexander has lived on a ranch in the Jornada del Muerto region of southern New Mexico her entire life. But when World War II begins, the government seizes her family’s land for the construction of a new, top secret Army post.

While her mother remains behind, Olive is forced to live in nearby Alamogordo with her grandmother and find a place in a new school. When Jo Hawthorne crosses her path, Olive sees a chance for friendship―until she learns that Jo’s father is the Army sergeant who now occupies her beloved ranch. Already angry about her new reality, Olive pushes Jo away. But as she struggles to make sense of her grandmother’s lapses into the past and increasingly unsettling hints about what’s happening at the ranch, she slowly warms to Jo’s winsome faith and steady attempts at friendship . . . until one devastating day when the sky explodes around them and their lives are torn apart.

Seven years later, Jo returns to Alamogordo, still angry and wounded by the betrayals of that fateful day. Determined to put the past behind her once and for all, Jo hunts for answers and begins to realize the truth may be far more complicated than she believed, leading her on a desperate search to find her friend before it’s too late.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Karren on July 19, 2022

Olive Alexander is angry when her families ranch in Southern Mexico is taken over by the army, her mother Evelyn gets to stay and she has to go live with her forgetful grandmother in Alamogordo. Olive has to attend high school, which she hates, and her grandmother makes her go to church. Olive meets......more

Goodreads review by Caitlin on April 24, 2022

5 ⭐️  Set in the 1940-50s, Come Down Somewhere follows the story of two young women: Olive Alexander and Jo Hawthorne. Olive’s story follows her childhood years during WW2, when the only life she has known is uprooted as the government picks her family’s land in New Mexico to be the top secret constr......more

Goodreads review by Laurie on June 08, 2023

I was born in 1943 and especially interested in fictional historical novels set during that period of time .. an outstanding opportunity to learn something new as I did in reading ‘COME DOWN SOMEWHERE.’ Based on a true story, I can highly recommend this book for clubs as the discussion themes includ......more

Goodreads review by Morgan on June 15, 2023

Wow. Just wow. 🥺 This story is as poignantly beautiful as it is powerfully heartbreaking! Seeing the events & the aftermath of the Trinity test through the eyes of Olive & Jo left a hitch in my chest and a lump in my throat. While I don’t consider myself an American history scholar by any means, page......more

Goodreads review by Sarah on January 14, 2025

4.5 stars for me. I really liked this book, hence, why I finished it within two days. 😉 It was funny, sad, and mysterious all at the same time that kept me glued to each word to find out what happened to two girls, Olive Alexander and Jo Hawthorne, as WWII rages on and heavily influences their lives......more