Read by Emma Galvin

An electric debut novel about love, addiction, and loss; the story of two girls and the feral year that will cost one her life, and define the other's for decades Everything about fifteen-year-old Cat's new town in rural Michigan is lonely and off-kilter, until she meets her neighbor, the manic, beautiful, pill-popping Marlena. Cat, inexperienced and desperate for connection, is quickly lured into Marlena's orbit by little more than an arched eyebrow and a shake of white-blond hair. As the two girls turn the untamed landscape of their desolate small town into a kind of playground, Cat catalogues a litany of firsts-first drink, first cigarette, first kiss-while Marlena's habits harden and calcify. Within the year, Marlena is dead, drowned in six inches of icy water in the woods nearby. Now, decades later, when a ghost from that pivotal year surfaces unexpectedly, Cat must try to forgive herself and move on, even as the memory of Marlena keeps her tangled in the past. Alive with an urgent, unshakable tenderness, Julie Buntin's Marlena is an unforgettable look at the people who shape us beyond reason and the ways it might be possible to pull oneself back from the brink. "Narrator Emma Galvin brings a slightly gritty yet vulnerable-sounding voice to the main character in this audiobook…a haunting yet tender story of growing up." "A novel of deep and exquisite intelligence, humor, and riveting sensitivity." "Captures that unique moment at the precipice of adulthood with emotional honesty and insight." "[A] dark, gorgeously written story." "In this icy and accomplished first novel, the intoxicating friendship between an inexperienced loner and her manic, wild-child neighbor continues to exert an irresistible pull on our narrator decades later." "Perfectly capture[s] the thrill of what it's like to become best friends with the beautiful girl from the wrong crowd…[and is] one of the most sensitive portrayals of a Midwestern town struggling with poverty, drugs, and restlessness." "The telling is so intimate that one can miss, at first, that Marlena is addicted to the pills she carries around…The book is ostensibly about friendship and the indelible mark the troubled Marlena left on Cat, but it is also a quiet, powerful look at addiction." "The kind of coming-of-age friendship that goes beyond camaraderie, into a deeper bond that forges identity." "A novel about youth―a time of splendor and squalor. Buntin make us see, hear, and feel both." "Reads nearly as compulsively as a thriller…Viscerally captures the sensations and heartaches of adolescence." "Poignant and unforgettable." "Devastating; as unforgettable as it is gorgeous." "Buntin's prose is emotional and immediate, and the interior lives she draws of young women and obsessive best friends are Ferrante-esque." "This gorgeous, assured debut captures the romance of young friendship, cutting deep with the finest touch." "[This] visceral, gripping novel combines humanity with a thrilling edge."

Mode of access: World Wide Web