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Interesting,
Addictive,
Dramatic

3 reviews

My Sunshine Away
by M.O. Walsh

Published: 2015-02-10
Hardcover : 320 pages
2 members reading this now
17 clubs reading this now
3 members have read this book
Recommended to book clubs by 3 of 3 members

An NPR Best Book of the Year

Instant New York Times Bestseller

An Entertainment Weekly 'Must List' Pick

“The last page is as satisfying as the first.” —Kathryn Stockett

“I really loved this book... I can't praise it enough.”—Anne Rice

“It's a book to read and reread, one that ...

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Introduction

An NPR Best Book of the Year

Instant New York Times Bestseller

An Entertainment Weekly 'Must List' Pick

“The last page is as satisfying as the first.” —Kathryn Stockett

“I really loved this book... I can't praise it enough.”—Anne Rice

“It's a book to read and reread, one that will only get better with time.”—Tom Franklin
 

It was the summer everything changed.…

My Sunshine Away unfolds in a Baton Rouge neighborhood best known for cookouts on sweltering summer afternoons, cauldrons of spicy crawfish, and passionate football fandom. But in the summer of 1989, when fifteen-year-old Lindy Simpson—free spirit, track star, and belle of the block—experiences a horrible crime late one evening near her home, it becomes apparent that this idyllic stretch of Southern suburbia has a dark side, too.

In My Sunshine Away, M.O. Walsh brilliantly juxtaposes the enchantment of a charmed childhood with the gripping story of a violent crime, unraveling families, and consuming adolescent love. Acutely wise and deeply honest, it is an astonishing and page-turning debut about the meaning of family, the power of memory, and our ability to forgive. 

Editorial Review

The Amazon Debut Spotlight Selection for February 2015: After only 50 pages My Sunshine Away gave me the same feeling as other Southern novels that have long remained favorites; The Help and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, to name two. How much of our future self is shaped by our first love, our early mistakes, and trading sweet innocence for the acrid recognition of cruelty? A lot, we discover, as we ride shotgun with a narrator who was fourteen the year that a crime against the girl he loved changed him irrevocably. This coming-of-age story set in a quiet Louisiana neighborhood touched by violence is by turns suspenseful and insightful, peppered with moments like this one that I want to commit to memory: “We were all middle-to-upper-class white kids, all the products of our parents’ success, and when we played with one another at school we played in the mirror.” –Seira Wilson

Excerpt

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Discussion Questions

Suggested by Members

What was one thing that stuck out most to you?
by Jbashworth (see profile) 04/11/16

Notes From the Author to the Bookclub

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Book Club Recommendations

Member Reviews

Overall rating:
 
 
by Beth O. (see profile) 09/12/16

 
  "Suburban view into life of young teen boy"by Judy A. (see profile) 04/11/16

The book was expertly written about being a teen boy and growing up during middle/high school. The descriptive language of childhood friends and adventures was spot on. All kids are subject to things... (read more)

 
by Barbara M. (see profile) 04/10/16

First part a little slow.

 
by Jessica K. (see profile) 01/20/16

 
  "Psychological Thriller"by Robin L. (see profile) 08/23/15

The opening reminded me of "The Lovely Bones" as a horrible event is revealed with one of the "suspects" narrating the story. There were parts that were horrible to read (SPOILER ALERT: dog cruelty) and... (read more)

 
  "My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh"by valerie g. (see profile) 03/26/15

I liked the way this book made me feel. It took me down my nostalgia road. Where I was, who I was with in many historical events. M.O. Walsh writing was pleasant in my mind. You could say it was a coming... (read more)

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