Thirteen-year-old Lucy, a pantomime enthusiast and self-appointed clapper for Henry, her violin superstar of an older brother, is smarter than your average 7th grader, but there’s a lot she doesn’t understand: Why, for example, her brother, a 17-year-old concert violin virtuoso, has suddenly lost his will to perform. Why her mother insists that Lucy to pay more attention to Henry's musical gift than to Lucy’s own budding mime career. Why their father, who decamped for Peru when Lucy was a small child, suddenly wants to come visit. And most confusing of all? Why is Charles, her best friend, suddenly someone she might want to kiss?

 

When Henry’s life takes a tragic turn, Lucy and her mother, desperate to escape their grief, head to Peru, hoping to seek solace in the presence of her previously missing father. But when the local bookstore owner, a generous bibliophile (and unapologetic poetry-pusher) who, like Lucy, is no stranger to loss, proves more present than Lucy’s still-elusive father, Lucy must confront some hard truths about love and friendship, guilt and grief, not to mention what happens when a best-friend-turned-crush is crushing on someone else.