The Rest of the Story (novel)
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 First edition | |
| Author | Sarah Dessen |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Young adult |
| Publisher | Balzer + Bray |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback)
Audiobook E-Book |
| ISBN | 978-0062933621 |
The Rest of the Story is a novel by Sarah Dessen. It was released on June 4, 2019.[1] The novel focuses on Emma Saylor Payne, and her summer with her mother's family, after her summer plans are canceled and her father scrambles to find a solution before he leaves the country. As her only option, she spends the summer with her maternal grandmother, whom she last saw years earlier at her mother's funeral. Over the summer she reconnects with relatives and friends she hadn't seen in years, and learns more about her past and connects the idea of her mother with the truth.
At 17-years-old, Emma Saylor Payne is stuck with nowhere to go after her summer plans fall through and her father, stepmother, and grandmother are all leaving the country. It was decided that she would spend the summer up at North Lake; her mother's childhood home, with her cousins, aunts, and maternal grandmother.[1] Emma Saylor doesn't remember much about her mother, who died when she was ten, but she does remember some of the stories that her mother would tell her about a big lake, and upon arriving at the lake she realizes that her mother's stories don't paint the full picture. There are two communities at the lake; her mother grew up in working-class North Lake, while her father spent the summers in a wealthier Lake North resort.[2]
The more time that Emma Saylor spends at North Lake the more time it feels like she is divided into two people; Emma, who her father has raised and grown to know, and Saylor, the name her mother called her and maternal family has adopted.[3] However, with the help of Roo Price, the boy who was her best friend at four during her first time at the lake she learns more about her past and reconciles her two images of herself.[2]
