Amanda Cockrell, the founding director of Hollins University’s graduate program in children’s literature, pens her first young adult novel, a quirky, surreal, and peculiar story of 15-year-old Angie, her relationship with two war-damaged men and her connection with God. The novel, “What We Keep Is Not Always What Will Stay,” is scheduled to release in June.
Angie didn’t used to think too much about God, until things started getting weird. Like the statue of St. Felix, her secret confidant, suddenly coming to life and talking with her. Then there is Jessie Francis, home from Afghanistan with his leg blown off and expected to fit back in at school. Going against the advice of Felix—who knows a thing or two about war—Angie finds herself falling for Jesse’s allure. But Jesse is battling some major demons of his own, and they may be more than Angie can handle.
Cockrell has published critical essays, poems, articles, and books for children and adults. She is the founding director of Hollins University’s graduate program in children’s literature and managing editor of the university’s literary journal, The Hollins Critic. Cockrell has received fiction fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Virginia Commission for the Arts. This is her debut YA novel. A native of Southern California, she currently resides in Roanoke.
For more information, visit AmandaCockrell.com. US $9.95 CAN $11.50 | Trade Paperback Original | ISBN 978-0-7387-2615-1 / Pub Date: June 8, 2011 | Flux Books | Ages 12 & up | 264 pp.
