Sparrow (review)

G'ma has been Kendall's whole world since Kendall's family was killed in a car crash when she was four. Now seventeen, she is repaying the favor by taking care of G'ma after her stroke, even though her grades are suffering as a consequence. When G'ma dies, Kendall is undone; her only surviving relative, her mother's sister, comforts her on the phone but doesn't appear in Chicago for the funeral. Faced with eviction and the prospect of becoming a ward of the state, Kendall travels to New Orleans to seek out her wayward aunt, only to find that she has run out on her landlady. The landlady has troubles of her own, though, and Kendall agrees to stay on to help care for her daughter, Evie, a girl Kendall's own age with muscular dystrophy and a chip on her shoulder. Kendall and Evie develop a wary but solid friendship, calling each other out on self-pity and supporting each other's dreams. Kendall's situation is tragically credible, and her grief palpates through the novel as she learns to expand her definition of family. She is quietly ordinary, by turns guarded and vulnerable, shaky and strong. Her gradually developing friendship with Evie is played out with subtlety and compassion as these two well-loved but sheltered girls open out from being the center of someone else's universe to figuring out what they want for themselves. Smith keeps the narrative well grounded in realistic detail; she doesn't neglect the details of state intervention, for instance, nor does she rehabilitate the aunt. She does, however, find hope for Kendall despite these obstacles, and she shows a keen insight into grief, growing up, and moving on.