When they were fifteen, Willa, Luz, and Britton had a friendship that was everything.
When they were sixteen, they stood by one another no matter what.
When they were seventeen, they went through the worst.
And when they were eighteen, Willa ruined it all.
Now, the week of graduation, Willa is left with only a memory box filled with symbols of the friendship she has nearly destroyed: A book of pranks. Corsages from a nightmarish homecoming. A greasy pizza menu. Greeting cards with words that mean the world… It’s enough to make Willa wonder how anything could tear her, Luz, and Britton apart. But as Willa revisits the moments when she and her friends leaned on one another, she can’t avoid the moments they leaned so hard, their friendship began to crack.
As Willa tries to find a way back to Luz and Britton, she must confront the why of her betrayal and answer a question she never saw coming: Who is she, without them?
Content Warnings:
Drowning, gaslighting, discussion of sexual assault, car accident
Praise for When We Were Them
“A bittersweet story that will touch many hearts, especially as readers remember that time when their friends were everything. Hand to those who love Nina LaCour.” – Booklist
“An intimate portrait of friendship at the cusp of adulthood.” – Kirkus Reviews
“A beautifully drawn portrait of friendship, family, and grief. When We Were Them painstakingly examines the bonds that keep us together and draw us apart, and what happens when we realize it’s time to leave childhood behind and strike out on our own. A lovely, lush, and poignant story that begs to be read again and again.”
–Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces and You’d Be Home Now
-
Randomly.com Interview
-
Parade Magazine list of Best YA Books of 2021
Foreign Editions:
- Poland
