Facing the Sun

The Sisterhood of the Traveling PantsmeetsThe Education of Margot Sanchezin this Caribbean-set story about four friends who experience unexpected changes in their lives during the summer when a hotel developer purchases their community's beloved beach.

Change is coming to Pinder Street

Eveis the rock in her family of seven, the one they always depend on. But when her dad is diagnosed with cancer, she wants nothing more than to trade her worries for some red lipstick and a carefree night.

Faithis the dancer all the boys want, but she only has eyes for the one she can't have. Only thing is, all the flirting in the world can't distract her from her broken home life...or the secrets that she hides.

KeeKeeis the poet who won't follow the rules, not even to please her estranged father. But after a horrible betrayal, she'll have to choose between being right and losing everyone she loves.

Niais the prisoner longing to escape her overprotective mother. A summer art program might be her ticket to freedom, yet it comes with a terrible priceand the risk may not be worth the reward.

Ready or not, it's time for these four friends to face the sun. (FromSimon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

Janice Lynn Mather was born and raised in Nassau, Bahamas. She is now a novelist and short story writer based in Vancouver. She holds aBFA andMFAfrom the University of BritishColumbia. In 2018, she released her debut novelLearning to Breathe. The book wasa finalist for the2018 Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature text.

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Why Janice Lynn Mather wrote Facing the Sun

"I was lucky growing up to have a close knit group of friends and to still be in touch with them now.I always look back at my teens as a time when it seemed quite common for there to be these groups of friends that were often best friends. But I remember there being little clusters. Sometimes the clusters would overlap and sometimes they wouldn't and there would be groups of friends breaking apart and coming together.

"As I got older and began having different kinds of conversations withfriends, I came to realize that there were certain things that we just didn'ttalk about.

There were often things that we were dealing with at home that maybe we didn't want to bring to our friendship.- Janice Lynn Mather

"There were often things that we were dealing with at home that maybe we didn't want to bring to our friendship. We didn't want to pollute our friendships almost with those things or we didn't feel comfortable sharing them.

"Ifound it interesting to go back and, through these four characters, look at the things that they talk about together and what they decide to share with each other."

Read more in her interview with The Next Chapter.

Interviews with Janice Lynn Mather

The Next Chapter13:18Janice Lynn Mather on Facing the Sun

Janice Lynn Mather writes about the tight-knit friendship of four teenage girls in her Bahamas-set YA novel Facing the Sun.

Other books by Janice Lynn Mather