The Life All Around Me by Ellen Foster

Same spunk. Same sass. Same winning charm. Ellen looks at life through both barrels and aims straight on . . . in this fascinating tale of grit and determination. The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) In this sequel to Gibbons s beloved classic Ellen Foster, Ellen, now fifteen, is settled into a permanent home with a new mother. Strengthened by adversity and blessed with enough intelligence to design a salvation for herself, she still feels ill at ease. But while she holds fast to the shreds of her childhood, she begins to negotiate her way into a larger world. With a singular mix of perspicacity, naivete, and compassion, Ellen draws us into her life and makes us fall in love with her all over again. [Ellen Foster] is a few years older, a bit wiser to the ways of the world and just as compelling. St. Louis Post-DispatchAs [Ellen] uses her considerable resources to move toward understanding and to react, equally, to old losses and sudden good fortune we re right there with her. Chicago Tribune KAYE GIBONS is the author of seven bestselling novels. Her first novel, Ellen Foster, was awarded the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a special citation from the Ernest Hemingway Foundation. That novel, as well as A Virtuous Woman, was chosen for Oprah s Book Club. Gibbons lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. Reading Group Guide Inside and at www.HarcourtBooks.com.…