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OLDER FICTION
Buxbaum, Julie

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341 pp. | Delacorte | December, 2020 | Trade ISBN 978-1-9848-9362-8 $18.99 | Library ISBN 978-1-9848-9363-5 $21.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-1-9848-9364-2 $10.99
(2) YA One Monday at 6:30 a.m., seventeen-year-old Chloe opens her front door to find a group of FBI agents, guns aimed and ready to arrest her famous actress mother for cheating to get Chloe admitted to Southern California College. Naturally, Chloe is stunned: sure, the college counselor her parents hired, Dr. Wilson, has a "­sleazy-car-salesman vibe," and sure, it was weird that her most recent SAT score was 240 points higher than on her previous try, but she hadn't realized her parents were committing a federal crime. Lawyers fill their house; strangers hate-text her; her best friend and boyfriend desert her; and she feels like the world is laughing at her stupidity ("It's not like SCC is an Ivy," she hears a lawyer sniff). Chloe's feelings of humiliation, fear, shame, and anger are explored in chapters labeled "Now"; alternating "Then" chapters detail her growing suspicions about Dr. Wilson amid her excitement about her new romance. Throughout, Buxbaum is sensitive to Chloe's family's plight but doesn't excuse or defend it. In fact, it's Chloe's examination of her white, wealthy privilege and her own role within an unjust system that allows her to move forward. Whether or not readers are familiar with the real-life events that inspired the story, they're likely to find it captivating; the novel goes behind the headlines to add humanity and complexity to a juicy national scandal.
Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2020

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