Like a modern-day Cyrano de Bergerac, Elisa ghostwrites love notes for
the boys in her school. But when Elisa falls for Theo Moses, things
change fast. Theo asks for verses to court the lovely Lila--a girl known
for her beauty, her popularity, and a cutting ability to remind Elisa
that she has none of these. At home, Elisa's father, the one person she
feels understands her, has left on an extended business trip. As the
days grow shorter, Elisa worries that the increasingly urgent letters
she sends her father won't bring him home. Like the undercover agent she
feels she has become, Elisa retreats to a pond in the woods, where her
talent for ice-skating gives her the confidence to come out from under
cover and take center stage. But when Lila becomes jealous of Theo's
friendship with Elisa, her revenge nearly destroys Elisa's ice-skating
dreams and her plan to reunite her family.
National Book Award nominee Beth Kephart's first young adult novel is a
stunning debut.