The People We Keep, Allison Larkin
The People We Keep, Allison Larkin
27 Rating(s)
List: $26.99 | Sale: $18.89
Club: $13.49

The People We Keep

Author: Allison Larkin

Narrator: Julia Whelan

Unabridged: 11 hr 8 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/03/2021


Synopsis

BOOK RIOT’S BEST BOOKS OF 2021

“This is a novel of great empathy, about connections and coming-of-age, built families and self-acceptance. It contains heartbreak and redemption, and a plucky, irresistible protagonist…[A] propulsive, empathetic novel.” —Shelf Awareness

Little River, New York, 1994: April Sawicki is living in a motorless motorhome that her father won in a poker game. Failing out of school, picking up shifts at a local diner, she’s left fending for herself in a town where she’s never quite felt at home. When she “borrows” her neighbor’s car to perform at an open mic night, she realizes her life could be much bigger than where she came from. After a fight with her dad, April packs her stuff and leaves for good, setting off on a journey to find a life that’s all hers.

Driving without a chosen destination, she stops to rest in Ithaca. Her only plan is to survive, but as she looks for work, she finds a kindred sense of belonging at Cafe Decadence, the local coffee shop. Still, somehow, it doesn’t make sense to her that life could be this easy. The more she falls in love with her friends in Ithaca, the more she can’t shake the feeling that she’ll hurt them the way she’s been hurt. As April moves through the world, meeting people who feel like home, she chronicles her life in the songs she writes and discovers that where she came from doesn’t dictate who she has to be.

This lyrical, luminous tale “is both a profound love letter to creative resilience and a reminder that sometimes even tragedy can be a kind of blessing” (Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author).

About Allison Larkin

Allison Larkin is the internationally bestselling author of the novels The People We KeepStayWhy Can’t I Be You, and Swimming for Sunlight. Her short fiction has been published in the Summerset Review and Slice, and nonfiction in Author in Progress, a how-to guide from Writer’s Digest Books, and the dog anthology I’m Not the Biggest Bitch in This Relationship. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, Jeremy, and their rescue dog, Roxy.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Allison on February 17, 2021

This is my new book, written under my full name. It's been something I've been working on for a long time and I put my whole heart into it. I hope you enjoy!......more

Goodreads review by Nilufer on November 06, 2022

I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH! Oh, April, she is living her sweet sixteen in the worst way possible, trapped in motorless motorhome which was won on poker game, abandoned by her mother at young age and now her father leaves him alone to become part of another family with a woman who is a few year older t......more

Goodreads review by Jayme on August 03, 2021

This book will tug at your heart strings! ❤️‍🩹 But, I loved it! It reminded me of that wonderful poem that reminds us that we have three types of friends in life: Those for a Reason-Those for a Season-and Those for a Lifetime. and, how you can’t always tell which category a person will end up in. April......more

Goodreads review by Michael on January 05, 2022

April is a 16-year old living in a small town in New York in 1994. Her mother left her, and she lives in a motorhome with her father. However, he prefers to stay with his current girlfriend and her child, essentially leaving April on her own. April is a singer-songwriter, and has dreams of making it......more

Goodreads review by Regina on November 21, 2021

The People We Keep is the type of book that has a lot of scenes where “new adults” have mid-makeout discussions about stopping and getting (or not getting) a condom. And that’s… …just not really my thing. Even if “condom” is the most gratuitous c-word used, there are so many other subjects and situat......more


Quotes

"Julia Whelan is wonderful as April Sawicki, a teenager escaping an abusive home through travels, music, and meeting strangers. Whelan's husky timbre and thoughtful tone draw listeners into April's thoughts, which are mostly filled with self-doubt."