"You Are My Only" by Beth Kephart~A Stunning Novel of Mother Love and Loss

Published by:  Egmont USA

Pages:  256

Genre:  Literature & Fiction, YA,

Family Dynamics, Psychological

Book Summary :

Emmy Rane is married at nineteen, a mother by twenty. Trapped in a life with a husband she no longer loves, Baby is her only joy. Then one sunny day in September, Emmy takes a few fateful steps away from her baby and returns to find her missing. All that is left behind is a yellow sock.

Fourteen years later, Sophie, a homeschooled, reclusive teenage girl is forced to move frequently and abruptly from place to place, perpetually running from what her mother calls the "No Good." One afternoon, Sophie breaks the rules, ventures out, and meets Joey and his two aunts. It is this loving family that gives Sophie the courage to look into her past. What she discovers changes her world forever. . . .

Brief Introduction of Author:

Beth Kephart is the author of thirteen books, including the National Book Award finalist A Slant of Sun, Undercover, The Heart Is Not a Size and Dangerous Neighbors. Kephart is a winner of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts fiction grant, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, and a Pew Fellowships in the Arts grant, among other honors. You can visit her online at http://www.beth-kephart.blogspot.com/.

The Dame Tells All:

Here's the scoop: This will be the most extraordinary and probably one of the most memorable books you'll read for a long time.  I suggest going right away to buy your hard copy, first edition because you'll want it in your personal library. I predict it will be one of the Top Best Books of 2011.


It is so masterfully written that you could simply close your eyes and point on any given page, and you'll land at a beautiful turn of phrase or description.  This is a book of the heart and soul.  This is a book that only an author of the highest quality could write.


The characters we learn to love:  Emmy Rane, the delicate, damaged young mother whose baby is stolen; Sophie, the baby and teenager whom we come to know and love; Joey, her next door friend and companion-of-the-larger-world;  Autumn, Emmy's precious person who helped; the awe-inspiring Aunts; and the man who made a difference...  All of these people are believable; they come alive in the hands of Beth Kephart.  I know them.  I cried with and for them, and I laughed in joy and sorrow with them.


The structure of this novel is one I have come to favor in every instance:  the back and forth of individuals and their story lines.  In "You Are My Only" we see the story from the perspectives of Emmy and Sophie.  This kept the book running at such a pace that I held back to savour every page.  I was so sad when the book ended.  You know the feeling...didn't want it to end.  But, it ended just perfectly, as I knew it would have to.  The final line was poignant and rang with truth.


This is a novel that can't be shared more than I have without giving too much away.  This is a story that will so touch your heart and mind that you may want to reread it right after you finish it.  I loved the book and recommend it to all of my friends and readers.  It is a novel that will leave you somber, however, and I must tell you that; it's not one that you can expect to do other than make you think and hope.


5+ stars for this very beautiful book by a genius of a writer.


Deborah/TheBookishDame