Hope Was Here - Softcover

Bauer, Joan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0552574619 ISBN 13: 9780552574617

Publisher: Corgi Childrens, 2015

Synopsis

Hope is a 16-year-old girl, living a nomadic lifestyle with her aunt Addie. Addie is a chef and restaurant manager, and Hope works as a waitress. They're always moving from place to place, and the story opens with them up-rooting from Brooklyn, New York. Before she leaves, Hope scribbles 'Hope Was Here' onto the menu board - it's become her motto, a ritual she carries out whenever they have to hit the road - again. Hope's a city girl and she isn't sure how she's going to tackle life in 'cow country'. Things start hotting up for her, though, when she gets embroiled in the local politics of Mulhoney, Wisconsin while working at the Welcome Stairways diner- Soon, Hope is tackling big issues about her own past, while grappling with some surprising developments in her new home town.

About this title

Review

Here's a book that's as warm and melty as a grilled Swiss on seven-grain bread, and just as wholesome and substantial. Ever since the boss promoted her from bus girl two and a half years ago when she was 14, Hope has been a waitress--and a darn good one, too. She takes pride in making people happy with good food, as does her aunt Addie, a diner cook extraordinaire. The two of them have been a pair ever since Hope's waitress mother abandoned her as a baby, and now they have come to rural Wisconsin to run the Welcome Stairways café for G.T. Stoop, who is dying of leukemia. But he's not dead yet, as the kindly and greathearted restaurant owner demonstrates when he decides to run for mayor against the wicked and corrupt Eli Millstone.

As old-fashioned goodness lines up against the bad guys, the campaign leads Hope in exciting new directions: a boyfriend who is a great grill man, a new sense of herself and her mission as a waitress, and--when Addie and G.T. finally realize that they are meant for each other--the father she has always wanted. And all of it backed up with stuffed pork tenderloin, butterscotch cream pie, and the rhythm of the short-order dance.

Joan Bauer, who won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Rules of the Road, has served up a delicious novel in Hope Was Here, full of delectable characters, tasty wit, and deep-dish truth. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell

About the Author

Joan Bauer has won critical acclaim for her many books, which include Rules of the Road, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Close to Famous, and Peeled. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Edition details

• Publisher: Corgi Childrens
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0552574619
• ISBN 13: 9780552574617
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208