Böcker av Linda Vigen Phillips

Thoughts at Crossings reflects the way Linda Vigen Phillips has always dealt with life's raw truths-through the language of poetry. Her debut novel-in-verse, Crazy, painted a picture of a mother's mental illness from a teenage point of view, while this new collection takes a firmly adult stance: a woman looking back with wise eyes on the scars and tragic lessons of childhood abuse.

"My hands aren't the same handsas before.Even my friends feel different."Piano prodigy Claire Fairchild, 14, has always known music would be her life. So when she has the opportunity to enter a prestigious contest, she goes all in-until she realizes she's also competing against Juan, a close childhood friend and one of the most talented musicians she knows. It doesn't help that her thoughts about him are turning romantic. When Claire and her family receive a devastating blow from Batten disease, her world enters a tailspin. Claire decides her musical goals no longer seem relevant. She can't reconcile the joy that music would bring to her life while her brothers succumb to an early and ugly death. Her decision puts everything at risk: her friendship with Juan, her parents' expectations, and her own happiness.After Claire accompanies a friend on a school newspaper assignment, she meets a centenarian with a surprising musical past and only one regret in life. Claire knows something in her life has to change before it's too late, but she's not sure she has the courage to take the next step.