Here We Are Now

A book about love, loss, and the power of music, perfect for fans of Nick Hornby and Fangirl.

Taliah Sahar Abdallat lives and breathes music. Songs have always helped Tal ease the pain of never having known her father. Her mother, born in Jordan and very secretive about her past, won’t say a word about who her dad really was. But when Tal finds a shoebox full of old letters from Julian Oliver―yes, the indie rock star Julian Oliver―she begins to piece the story together.

She writes to Julian, but after three years of radio silence, she’s given up hope. Then one day, completely out of the blue, Julian shows up at her doorstep, and Tal doesn’t know whether to be furious or to throw herself into his arms. Before she can decide, he asks her to go on a trip with him to meet her long-estranged family and to say good-bye to his father, her grandfather, who is dying.

Getting to know your father after sixteen years of estrangement doesn’t happen in one car ride. But as Tal spends more time with Julian and his family, she begins to untangle her parents’ secret past, and discovers a part of herself she never recognized before.

By the acclaimed author of My Heart and Other Black Holes, this is an intergenerational story of family and legacy and the way love informs both of those things. It’s about secrets and the debt of silence. It’s about the power of songs. And most of all, it’s about learning how to say hello. And good-bye.

He’s the rock star father she’s only read about, but can she forgive the man who was never there?

• A Complicated Father Daughter Relationship: Tal has spent her life wondering about the rockstar father she never knew. Now that Julian Oliver is on her doorstep, she has to decide if she can forgive sixteen years of silence.
• YA Books About Music: For Tal, music has always been an escape. But as she uncovers her parents’ past, she discovers that for them, songs were a language of love, heartbreak, and secrets.
• A Bittersweet First Love: In the small town of Oak Falls, a boy next door with secrets of his own might be the one person who understands what it's like to feel lost and found at the same time.
• An Unforgettable Family Saga: Tal isn't just meeting her father—she's meeting the grandmother, aunt, and cousins she never knew she had, all while saying goodbye to a grandfather she's just met.

Jasmine Warga is the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of middle grade novels A Rover's Story, The Unlikely Tale of Chase and Finnegan, Other Words For Home, The Shape of Thunder, and A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall. Her books have won numerous awards, including a Newbery Honor. Originally from Cincinnati, she now lives in the Chicago-area with her family in a house filled with books.