What I Was

Rising star Meg Rosoff delivers a piercing and magical story about friendship and humanity.

In the not too distant future, a one-hundred-year-old man called H sails the eastern coast of England with his godson. H recalls when he himself was sixteen —his godson'’s age— as they search for the site of H’'s life-altering friendship with a boy named Finn. Finn lives alone on an isolated slip of land and follows no rules: he spends his days swimming, fishing, and collecting driftwood for his tiny beach hut. H, on the other hand, is an upper-class boarding school boy stifled by monotony and endless rules. They meet by chance on the beach, and H is immediately awed by (and jealous of) Finn'’s way of life. They strike up an unlikely friendship but the gap between their lives becomes difficult to bridge, and before long the idyll that nurtured their relationship is shattered by heart-wrenching scandal.

Meg Rosoff was formerly a YA author, but her work transcends categorization and we are delighted to bring it to adult readers for the first time. What I Was is a timeless, enthralling story destined to become a classic.

Meg Rosoff had three or four careers in publishing and advertising before writing her highly acclaimed first novel, How I Live Now. She moved from New York City to London in 1989, where she lives with her husband and daughter. What I Was is her third novel, after How I Live Now and Just in Case, for which she was awarded the Carnegie Medal.