Small Damages - by Beth Kephart (Paperback)

About the Book

It's senior year, and Kenzie discovers she's pregnant. Her determination to keep her baby is something her boyfriend and mother do not understand. So she is sent to Spain, where she will live out her pregnancy, and her baby will be adopted by a Spanish couple.

Book Synopsis

A high school senior is shipped off to a sun-soaked Spanish village in order to secretly give birth then return like nothing has ever happened--but is that really the only option?

"The novel is a story about choices . . . but also about finding one's self."--The New York Times Book Review

"Delicate and luscious."--Kathryn Erskine, author of National Book Award-winner Mockingbird

The future should be right within reach, but for Kenzie the future has suddenly been rearranged. It's senior year, and while she should be looking forward to prom and starting college in the fall, she discovers she's pregnant. Her mother sends her to Spain, where she will live out her pregnancy, and her child will be adopted by a Spanish couple. No one will ever know.

Alone in a foreign country, Kenzie is at first resentful. But as she gets to know the rough land and the mysterious people in it, she begins to open her eyes, and her heart, to the beauty that is around her, and inside her. Kenzie realizes she has some serious choices to make--choices about life, love, and home.

Lyrically told in a way that makes the heat, the colors, and the smells of Spain feel alive, Small Damages is a feast for the heart and the soul, and a novel not easily forgotten.

Review Quotes

"Lovely and unusual--at once epic and intimate"--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"This beautifully written 'summer of transformation' story will have readers feeling as torn about Kenzie's choice as she is."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"'Dreamlike' is one word for 'Small Damages' . . . [Kenzie's] percolating story emerges through Kephart's lilting prose in the same hazy way you'd meander through the narrow white streets of Seville . . . The reader is lost and found and lost and found again."--The New York Times Book Review

"Lovely."--The Los Angeles Times

"Beautifully told, the characters' stories are soulful and compelling, and the setting is rich and alive. . . . This story is unexpectedly tender and original, never falling prey to cliché or the trappings of the typical teen problem novel."--School Library Journal

"Kephart has created a lyrical, beautiful story about a young woman at a turning point, struggling to reconcile her choices, find her place in the world and discover the true meaning of family."--BookPage

"Small Damages is a magical story that is simple, yet complex."--VOYA

"Stunning. Kephart's lyrical prose lingers with you long after the final page. I simply didn't want it to end."--Ruta Sepetys, author of New York Times bestseller, Between Shades of Gray

"As this delicate and luscious novel unfolds, the lines are blurred between love and loss, past and present, real and magical, and even life and death."--Kathryn Erskine, author of National Book Award-winner Mockingbird

"Escape to Spain with Beth Kephart's Small Damages."--BELLA

"We wish to slow down, breathe in the smell of Estela's paella, the scent of the orange trees. As soon as the book ends, we want to begin it again."--Shelf Awareness

"Kephart is a linguistic Midas--everything she puts to paper is golden, including this gem."--Family Circle

"Small Damages is a wrenching celebration of choice. To read Kephart is to splendidly dream with both eyes open."--Rita Williams-Garcia, author of One Crazy Summer, winner of the Newbery Honor Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award

About the Author

Beth Kephart is the award-winning author of more than a dozen books. She teaches creative nonfiction at the University of Pennsylvania. When she's not writing or teaching, she loves to take photographs and to garden. Beth lives in Devon, Pennsylvania.