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37,000 words
Finished books now available
Canada: Penguin, Jan 2011
Sweden: Stabenfeldt
Norway: Stabenfeldt
Finland: Stabenfeldt
(Photo: Phillip Chin)
Annabel Lyon’s first novel, The Golden Mean, became a #1 bestseller in Canada in 2009 after it was nominated for all three major Canadian literary prizes. It won one of them, The Rogers Writers Trust Prize for Fiction, and will be released in fall 2010 by Knopf in the USA and Atlantic in the UK. Rights have also been sold in Spain (Roca), France (Table Ronde), Brazil (Leya), Portugal (Dom Quixote), Croatia (Sareni Ducan), and Taiwan (Ye-Ren).
a young adult novel by Annabel Lyon
FULL OF AS MUCH WRY HUMOUR AS TEEN ANGST, ENCORE EDIE DEFTLY INTRODUCES THE DILEMMA OF DISABILITY
“Better than Glee. Way better. … [B]uy the book for your kid – and read it yourself first.” — THE GLOBE AND MAIL
“Intelligent, timely fiction anchored by a heroine with real staying power.” — QUILL & QUIRE, starred review
- From the author of the award-winning, bestselling adult novel, The Golden Mean
Thirteen-year-old Edie’s life is becoming more complicated as she enters her teen years and starts high school. She now attends school not only with her 15-year-old sister, Dexter, but also with their cousin Meredith, who has Down syndrome. Suddenly Edie and Dexter’s responsibilities include Merry. Edie is mortified.
Struggling to find her place in the complex social world of high school, Edie decides to mount an ambitious musical production derived from King Lear. Edie’s parents accuse her of using the play as an excuse to avoid her cousin, and ask her to find Merry a way of taking part in it.
Meanwhile, their summer-cottage friend Robert, whom Edie had previously rejected out of embarrassment when he asked her on a date, invites Edie, Dexter, and Merry to the planetarium, and afterwards he comes to their house for dinner. Edie fails to notice his and Dexter’s interest in each other; she is too wrapped up in her own troubles, including ongoing battles with her parents over spending time with Merry. In Edie’s opinion, Merry is ruining both the play and her precarious social standing at school.
The dress rehearsal and performance of King Lear: The Musical is catastrophic, and the production is almost cancelled. To make matters worse, Edie realizes that Robert and Dexter have been seeing each other for months. In July Edie’s family makes plans to go to the cottage, but at the last minute Edie asks if she can stay with her aunt and Merry instead. Her parents are thrilled that she supposedly has warmed up to Merry; Edie can’t admit that she just doesn’t want to spend her holidays watching Dexter and Robert. The novel ends on a bittersweet note of jealousy and new-found independence as Edie learns to cherish and enjoy her cousin.
PRAISE FOR ANNABEL LYON'S FIRST YA NOVEL, ALL-SEASON EDIE
“Whether All-Season Edie is a busman’s holiday or the start of a new side career, readers win. Subtle, sad, and hilarious, it has a wonderful way with words and features characters that stick.” — QUILL & QUIRE, starred review