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"Dragging my book bag down Quince Road on my way back from school, I couldn't help wondering what I might find once I got home. The things in our house were shifting under the hands of Papa's new wife, Lara. I'd go to bed knowing everything in the parlor was snug in its place, then come morning, I'd head downstairs only to discover that the room had changed identities while I slept."

Ever ... More

"Dragging my book bag down Quince Road on my way back from school, I couldn't help wondering what I might find once I got home. The things in our house were shifting under the hands of Papa's new wife, Lara. I'd go to bed knowing everything in the parlor was snug in its place, then come morning, I'd head downstairs only to discover that the room had changed identities while I slept."

Ever since Nissa Bergen's father Ivar remarried, Nissa has felt like a stranger in her own home, clinging to her memories of her free-spirited mother, Heirah Rae, who moved to Chicago to escape the conformity of small-town Louisiana. To make matters worse, she's not ready for the physical changes that are happening to her. So when Heirah asks Nissa to stay with her for a while, Nissa decides it's time for a change.

But Heirah's life in Chicago painting sets for a theater is overwhelming to Nissa, and she misses her home and father in Harper. Slowly, Nissa realizes that she has to stop living for her mother and start living for herself. Ivar and Lara's visit convinces her that home is in Harper. And after a revelation in the Chicago library, Nissa discovers a way for her to stake her independence and find her place in her family and her life.

Told with the lyricism that marked The Year of the Sawdust Man, Nissa's Place is a beautiful continuation of Nissa's story and a remarkable book on its own. Once you meet Nissa Bergen, you'll never forget her.