Burn It Down

"Outstanding . . . full of emotional realism and resonance."- FOREWORD

Rigsby, Wisconsin: Amid the placid, scenic small-town beauty, the teens of Rigsby are roiling with struggles over what might come next, where to turn, and what's standing in their way.

When Anna welcomed new friend Bethany to town, it gave her some distraction from simmering issues of her own. Now, we turn to Anna's story and . . . it's not great. Her school lunch card doesn't work, her old friends in orchestra won't stop talking about boys, and her home is always full of creepy men. Now she's been partnered up on a school project with the weirdo kid, Frank, who's been held back so many times that now her grades are doomed, as well. She wishes things could be like when she was younger, when she lived in a house instead of a trailer park, when her mom was going to night school . . . when she was happy.

But Anna's memories may be a bit rose-colored, and with a deep freeze setting in, she has a wild night ahead of her, where past and future collide. Anna has no idea where she'll wind up, but she'll need the comforting arms of a friend to get through it.

S.E. Case's painfully beautiful Rigsby WI is a bracing, refreshingly genuine tale of life on the cusp of something new, and the saga continues here.