First published 1994
Walker Miller takes his own life at seventeen, leaving Gold Dust High School reeling. His best friend Joe Jazinski burns with rage he cannot voice or understand. Edith McCaw, Joe's girlfriend, navigates her near blindness while confronting desires that both thrill and terrify her. Swimming coach Jenna Williams drowns in self-blame, convinced she failed Walker when he needed help most. Roy Morrison teaches driver's education and fights his addiction to alcohol, but Walker's death forces him to confront a harder truth about his capacity for human connection. Each person carries secrets from before Walker died. Each struggles to make sense of a loss that defies explanation. Their stories weave together across time, revealing how one teenager's final choice ripples through a community already fragmented by isolation and pain.
Genres: fiction, drama, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, grief
Setting: Gold Dust High School
289 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Ivy Books
Content warnings: mental-illness, suicide