The Local News: A Novel

When fifteen-year-old Lydia Pasternaks popular older brother Danny disappears late one summer night she unwillingly becomes a celebrity in her community and an afterthought to her bereaved parents. In Dannys absence Lydia blossoms from a bookish outcast to the center of attention all while grappling with her grudging grief for a brother she never particularly liked. When an intriguing private investigator enters the picture Lydia finds herself drawn into the search for clues to Dannys whereabouts. The shocking end to that trail of cluesan end that Lydia never prepares forwill haunt her for the rest of her life. An authentic and at times surprisingly funny dissection of public and private grief The Local News is an accomplished affecting debut.