Jess finds a secret diary and imagines what it would be like to be a
girl who has everything. Will she become so wrapped up in someone else's
life that she misses a chance to create her own?
Jess cleans houses to save money for college, because her dad --
unemployed and off the wagon yet again -- has moved the two of them out
of the city into a decrepit borrowed tent and trailer. Jess wavers
between anger at her father and fear that poverty and addiction may be
her fate, too, and she decides she will do whatever it takes to avoid
it.
She gets a gig cleaning a gorgeous country home and discovers the
trashed bedroom of the teenaged daughter, Quinn. Jess wonders how a girl
with a perfect life - private school, horseback riding - could have
wrecked such a beautiful room. As she cleans, she finds troubling
clues - including, tucked behind the bed, a diary.
Gradually Jess learns that Quinn's life is not what it's supposed to be.
Jess begins to imagine becoming friends with Quinn, and when she begins
to write down a new story for Quinn, she risks turning her back on the
opportunities that are right in front of her - new friends, new
interests, a fresh beginning.
Key Text Features
biographical note
chapters
dialogue
journal entries