This is a mess of a book. The Windham family are the hereditary gravekeepers for a very old cemetery. In this book everybody is assigned a grave at birth. When they are 13 they are given the key to the grave and expected to spend time in it occasionally, contemplating their mortality. It’s a strange set-up and the family is strange, in large part due to temporal events and poverty.
There are high school bullying issues, stifling of children by parental insecurities, a runaway kid, a Boo Radley-type figure, and a lonesome ghost.
The big problem is lack of a focused voice. There are a lot of different voices and stories and trails calling for our attention. The author doesn’t develop any of the plots and themes satisfactorily. If she had not bitten off so much to chew at one time, the book might have been better. Mild language issues, no sex.
Categories: Dysfunctional Relationships, Navigating through High School, Peer Relationships, Supernatural/Occult
Before You Buy YA 
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