About this item
Highlights
- When Evie Perez is cut off from everything she loves and forced to move to Iceland for the summer, she takes her canvas and paintbrushes into the picturesque cherry orchard behind her guesthouse.
- 330 Pages
- Young Adult Fiction, Magical Realism
Description
About the Book
When Evie Perez visits the cherry orchard behind her guesthouse, she paints a boy she's never met. Oskar is startled to see himself on her canvas. As she returns day after day, their connection deepens, and Oskar must decide how long to maintain his silence.Book Synopsis
When Evie Perez is cut off from everything she loves and forced to move to Iceland for the summer, she takes her canvas and paintbrushes into the picturesque cherry orchard behind her guesthouse. She stains her lips with stolen cherries in the midnight sun and paints a boy she's never met.
Oskar is startled to discover Evie in his family's orchard, and even more surprised to see himself on her canvas. Too ashamed to reveal his stutter, he remains quiet as Evie returns day after day to paint, spilling confessions she wouldn't even tell her priest.
When the magic intensifies and their connection deepens, everything they share is at stake, forcing Oskar to decide how long to maintain his silence.
Review Quotes
"A luminous YA love story with magnetic characters and literary flair." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Jennifer Hawkins's debut is a brilliant and unique take on the timeless YA themes of communication, empathy, and first love--and all of their attendant and perennial obstacles. Evie and Oskar's relationship is spun in gorgeous, unexpected lyricism; even the setting (friendless and freezing and diametrically opposed to Evie's Miami home) infuses the novel with a surreal and mythic quality: every detail weighs on her discovery of Oskar's secret. THE LANGUAGE OF CHERRIES is impossible to forget; for me, it reads like the classic it deserves to be." - Daniel Ehrenhaft, author of Ten Things To Do Before I Die (Delacorte, 2004) and the Edgar Award-winning Trust Falls (HarperCollins, 2002)
"THE LANGUAGE OF CHERRIES is a lush, heady, magical book, much like first love itself. Evie and Oskar are unforgettable characters with passions and desires who, despite their initial language barrier, deeply understand and support each other. The vibrant writing and unique Icelandic setting, combined with an inventive structure, make this book a YA standout reminiscent of Anna-Marie McLemore and Sarah Addison Allen." -- Rachel Lynn Solomon, author of You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone (S&S, 2018) and Our Year of Maybe (S&S, 2019)
"THE LANGUAGE OF CHERRIES is unlike anything I've ever read. I immediately fell in love with the premise, the characters, and the world. Richly textured with a mixture of crisp prose and poignant verse, it's the kind of book you read in one sitting, and then you read it again to savor. A brilliant gem of a book about how the heart needs no translator. I adore this book!" -- Elly Blake, New York Times bestselling author of the Frostblood Saga (Little, Brown).