Needle Lake - by Justine Champine (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Two cousins on very different sides of teen girlhood spend a winter together that changes both of their lives forever.

And once, after Elna came to stay, I watched a man drown there on Christmas Eve, his body trapped beneath the ice.

Fourteen-year-old Ida was born with a hole in her heart. Forbidden from most physical activities and considered strange by her teachers and peers, she prefers spending time alone, memorizing countries and capitals on her globe and imagining the world outside the tiny logging town of Mineral, Washington.

One afternoon, in walks her cousin Elna, there to stay for a few weeks. Ida hasn't seen Elna since they were children, and she's immediately drawn to her older cousin, who's everything Ida is not: confident, glamorous, charismatic, and daring. Elna lives in San Francisco, a city Ida has seen only as a dot on her globe. She doesn't treat Ida like she's a fragile kid whose heart might give out at any moment. She isn't scared off by Ida's quirks and fixations. Ida is enraptured.

Then, on Christmas Eve, a man dies out in the woods near Mineral, and the two cousins suddenly share a secret beyond the scope of anything Ida has dealt with before. Fear begins to mix with the reverence Ida feels toward her cousin, especially when she discovers Elna is hiding more than she ever suspected. Brimming with lush prose and careful observation, Needle Lake is an arresting portrait of girlhood and the overwhelming, sometimes dangerous intensity of adolescence.

Review Quotes

"Haunting and gorgeously wrought, Needle Lake is about the complicated relationship between two girls and the adults who have failed them, with characters so alive and real they leap off the page, and prose so exacting it took my breath away. Justine Champine has once again proven herself to be a master of small-town American psychological drama, complete with nuanced commentaries on class and queerness. I can't wait to read what she writes next."--Gabrielle Korn, author of Yours for the Taking

"A searing, unforgettable novel that captures the intense and dangerous alchemy of girlhood connection with prose so lyrical and haunting it builds like a gathering storm. Needle Lake is the rare novel that will both haunt and dazzle you. Immersive, atmospheric, and wise, this is a spellbinding exploration of identity, belonging, and the treacherous journey through adolescence. Chock full of suspense and beauty, Needle Lake cements Justine Champine as a brilliant and original voice."--Chelsea Bieker, author of Madwoman and Godshot

"Oh my god, I couldn't turn the pages of Needle Lake fast enough. It's a suspenseful, immersive, and intoxicating read, a coming-of-age story unlike any other. Champine has created a truly unforgettable character in Ida and has so beautifully captured the quiet terror of otherness, of growing up different and longing for an escape, longing for a place that may or may not exist at all. With a compelling voice and incredible eye for detail, Champine manages the impossible: finds language for an experience that often transcends language itself. I'll be thinking about Ida and this book for a long time."--Marisa Crane, author of A Sharp Endless Need

"Needle Lake is girlhood at its most chillingly relatable. Adolescent cousins become young adults with a secret that reveals more about humanity than they bargained for--especially, and including, their own. Beautiful and deliberate prose pulses like an invigorating nightmare, inviting readers into moments of wonder before presenting realities we can't wake up from. Delicate and sharp pacing moves through the spooky, small-town setting in the Pacific Northwest, leading us to the scariest people in the world: girls. . . . For fans of Brutes, Nightbitch, and Boy Parts."--Marissa Higgins, author of A Good Happy Girl

"Filled with stomach-twisting turns and spot-on evocations of autistic adolescence, Needle Lake impressively blends thriller and own-voices narrative. Justine Champine truly understands the wonder, beauty, and horror of neurodivergent girlhood."--Devon Price, PhD, author of Unmasking Autism: The Power of Embracing Our Hidden Neurodiversity

About the Author

Justine Champine's short fiction has appeared in The Kenyon Review, Epoch, and Los Angeles Review of Books. She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and lives in New York City. Needle Lake is her second novel, after her debut, Knife River.