Margins
A Ticket to Ride book cover
A Ticket to Ride
2008
First Published
3.35
Average Rating
288
Number of Pages

Remember that girl? The one who was impossibly cool, who taught you how to blow smoke rings, cut school, sneak out of the house? Remember how you turned yourself inside out trying to be just like her—and then she broke your heart? Set in the long, hot summer of 1973, Paula McLain's lyrical debut novel explores what happens when an insecure, motherless teenager falls under the dangerous spell of "that girl"—her older cousin Fawn. Fawn's worldly ways are mesmerizing to Jamie, who submits to a makeover—both inside and out—to win Fawn's approval. But over the course of a summer wrecked with tragedy and loss, Jamie learns that Fawn will use anything and anyone to further her own motives. When a local girl goes missing, Jamie realizes how dangerous Fawn truly is, and recognizes, too late, her own complicity in the disaster that unfolds around them. Paula McLain's poignant debut is a compelling family portrait that explores the darker sides of love and loyalty.

Avg Rating
3.35
Number of Ratings
1,449
5 STARS
13%
4 STARS
29%
3 STARS
41%
2 STARS
14%
1 STARS
3%
goodreads

Author

Paula McLain
Paula McLain
Author · 11 books
Paula McLain is the author of the New York Times and internationally bestselling novels, The Paris Wife, Circling the Sun and Love and Ruin. Now she introduces When the Stars Go Dark (April 13, 2021), an atmospheric novel of intertwined destinies and heart-wrenching suspense. She received an MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan in 1996, and is also the author of two collections of poetry, the memoir Like Family: Growing Up in Other People's Houses, and the debut novel, A Ticket to Ride. Her work has has appeared in The New York Times, Real Simple, Town & Country, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Good Housekeeping, and elsewhere. She lives with her family in Cleveland, Ohio.
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