Hand Me Down: A Novel

(Paperback)

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A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of 2012 "Hand Me Down, which recalls the gritty power of Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina, is fiction with the ring of truth." -San Jose Mercury News Fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Reid has spent her life protecting her sister, Jaime, from their parents' cruel mistakes and broken promises. When their mother chooses her second husband and their new family over raising her firstborn girls, Elizabeth and Jaime are separated and risk losing the shelter of each other. Hand Me Down indelibly captures a contemporary family journey--how two young people, against incredible odds, forge lives of their own in the face of an uncertain future.

Reviews

A sad, compelling read. -People

Melanie Thorne's debut novel is raw with emotion as she describes Liz's often futile efforts to protect her sister and herself from the predator their mother has invited into their lives. It is often hard to remember that this is, in fact, a novel and not a memoir Thorne's novel is an eye-opener she leaves the reader haunted by a nagging question: What happens to the children who are not so lucky -Associated Press

Thorne sounds utterly liberated as she describes the merits of exploring fact through fiction With the clear-eyed honesty of a Daniel Woodrell or Bonnie Jo Campbell character, Liz describes the pain of being a young person among careless, thrill-seeking men and hardworking, wounded women. -San Francisco Chronicle

Hand Me Down, which recalls the gritty power of Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina, is fiction with the ring of truth. -San Jose Mercury News

The novels adolescent perspective is sure to find popularity with YA audiences. -Library Journal

Author Bio

Melanie Thorne earned her MA from University of California-Davis, where she was awarded the Alva Englund Fellowship and the Maurice Prize in Fiction. She lives in northern California.