When the Moon Was Ours

Longlist, National Book Awards 2016 for Young People's Literature

When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore, book cover
ISBN 9781250058669
Thomas Dunne Books / St. Martin’s Press
author photo of Anna-Marie McLemore. (Photo credit: Elliott McLemore)
Anna-Marie McLemore

Anna-Marie McLemore writes magical realism and fairy tales that are as queer, Latine, and nonbinary as they are. More about this author >

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To everyone who knows them, best friends Miel and Sam are as strange as they are inseparable. Roses grow out of Miel’s wrist, and rumors say she spilled out of a water tower when she was five. Sam is known for the moons he paints and hangs in the trees, and for how little anyone knows about his life before he and his mother moved to town.

But as odd as everyone considers Miel and Sam, even they stay away from the Bonner girls, four beautiful sisters rumored to be witches. Now they want the roses that grow from Miel’s skin, and they’re willing to use every secret Miel has fought to protect to make sure she gives them up.

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