Teen Fiction

The Miles Between

Name: The Miles Between
Author: Mary E. Pearson
ISBN: 9780805088281

by Mary E. Pearson

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Overview

Destiny Faraday makes a point of keeping her distance from her classmates at Hedgebrook Academy. Her number-one rule: Don’t get attached. But one day, unexpectedly finding a car at their disposal, Destiny and three of her classmates embark on an unauthorized road trip.

They’re searching for one fair day—a day where the good guy wins and everything adds up to something just and right. Their destination: Langdon, a town that Destiny’s unsuspecting companions hope will hold simply a day of fun. But, as Destiny says, “Things are not always what they seem.” Only she knows that Langdon holds far more than that—a deep secret she has never shared with anyone.

The Miles Between explores the wonder and magic of a very real world where chance, mystery, and secrets abound.

Synopsis

The Miles Between explores the wonder and magic of a very real world where chance, mystery, and secrets abound.

Publishers Weekly

Four teens escape boarding school for a day when 17-year-old Destiny Faraday happens upon a pink convertible with the key in the ignition (conveniently, the glove box also contains a bundle of cash). These truants aren't out for a joyride: their quest is for a “fair day” in which everybody gets something they dearly deserve. Rather improbably, this is what happens. The coincidences involved in making this so push Pearson's (The Adoration of Jenna Fox) story in genre-bending ways. Is this a fantasy? A meditation on chance and coincidence? (“Can there be such a thing as a pattern to coincidence?” muses Destiny.) What keeps the pages turning while one's disbelief is in constant suspension is the mystery element—there's a dark secret lurking in Destiny's backstory that dribbles out as the day goes on. The big reveal is well orchestrated, but the way the story wraps up treats casually what readers will have learned is serious mental illness. Those willing to let that go will be carried along by the story's supernatural momentum and its affirming message about the redemptive power of friendship. Ages 14–up. (Sept.)

About the Author, Mary E. Pearson

MARY E. PEARSON is the author of four other novels for teens—The Adoration of Jenna Fox, A Room on Lorelei Street, David v. God, and Scribbler of Dreams. She writes full-time from her home in Carlsbad, California, where she lives with her husband and two dogs.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Children's Literature - Joyce Rice

When Destiny Farraday was seven she was sent away to attend boarding school. She never lived at home again and the only family that visited her was her maiden aunt, Aunt Edie. When all of the familiar comforts of home are missing, a child will create whatever environment is necessary to survive. Destiny pays attention to numbers—how they appear and reappear in nature and how they affect the way she lives her life. She shares her October 19th birthday with her mother and remembers that October 19th was the day she was sent to the first boarding school. Destiny has attended several boarding schools over the last 12 years but has never stayed at one very long. She has been at Hedgebrook for four years now and she is beginning to like it, although she cannot tell you why. She only knows that today is October 19th, Aunt Edie is not coming to visit, and something extraordinary will happen today. Destiny has few friends at Hedgebrook but she is unable to resist the bubbly personality of Mira and is curious about Seth, the new guy, and Aidan, the quiet one. An encounter with a friendly stranger will give Mira the opportunity to spend an extraordinary day with these semi-friends and, as a result, Destiny's future will take an entirely new turn. This is a delightful story, filled with surprises and an especially astonishing ending. Young adult readers will be captivated by the characters and the supporting roles of Mrs. Wicket and Lucky. Author Pearson certainly has a lock on what young teens like to read. Another of her novels, The Adoration of Jenna Fox, is headed for the big screen. This is an excellent addition to reading classrooms and media centers where young teens are served.Reviewer: Joyce Rice

School Library Journal

Gr 7–10—Routine and predictability are the backbone of 17-year-old Destiny Faraday's days at Hedgebrook Academy in Mary E. Pearson's novel (Holt, 2009). She has everything down to a system guaranteed to keep her from getting too close to anyone because, after all, she may not be here that long. Destiny's life has been a long series of boarding schools ever since her parents sent her away at age 7. But one day unexpected things begin to happen. Destiny crumples the calendar page, gets unsettling news at breakfast, cuts class to go to the garden, meets a mysterious stranger, and finds a car running in the driveway. Destiny and three other students take off on an unauthorized road trip searching for that "one fair day" where the good guys win and everything is just and right. What ensues is a touching, often funny, sometimes enlightening, and often improbably strange day. Jeannie Stith perfectly portrays all the characters.—Cynde Suite, Bartow County Public Library System, Cartersville, GA

Kirkus Reviews

Pearson mesmerizes with a heavily cryptic back story that explodes with full emotional force. Seventeen-year-old Destiny's a loner who's been shunted from one boarding school to another without seeing her parents for a decade. Two arcs emerge simultaneously: Destiny's childhood, sliding out in painful bits, and a terrifyingly beautiful truant day that sees Destiny and three not-quite-friends escape from campus in a found pink car for a road trip. The date is October 19th, which spells certain doom in Destiny's numbers-obsessed mind, yet a mystical momentum pulls her along as the day stacks up coincidence upon coincidence, each one sweet but suspicious. Aidan has national-policy opinions; he meets the president in a cafe restroom. Destiny wants a day that's fair; everything from lamb adoption to hot-dog vendors fits a puzzle-piece of fairness. The page-turning suspense lies in Destiny's oblique but bittersweet and humbly written history, and in the question, even, of what genre this is. Serendipity? Ominous forces? What's dangerous about October 19th? The long-awaited reveal has a massively cathartic payoff. (Fiction. YA)