For the past five years, Mitra Esfahani has known two constants: her best friend Bea Ortage and The Book - a dog-eared notebook in which she and Bea have been exchanging poems since they were thirteen. The rule of The Book are simple: No lies, no secrets, and no punctuation. This is a never-ending poem, as epic and everlasting as their friendship. Nothing is too messy of too complex for The Book - not Mitra's convoluted feelings about her absent mother, or Bea's heartache over her most recent breakup. Nothing except the one thing with the power to change their entire friendship: the fact that Mitra is helplessly in love with Bea. Written in lyrical prose and snippets of poetry, Parisa Akhbari's debut novel brilliantly captures the euphoria and heartache of a friendship evolving into something more. --

Ages 14 and up

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