Bittersweet »

Drew Lamm's published work includes picture books and short stories. Bittersweet is her first novel and her first book for Clarion. She lives in Rowayton, Connecticut.

Taylor has always thought of herself as an artist, never lacking ideas or creative energy. But when her beloved Grams, who has raised her from infancy, suffers a stroke, Taylor’s world is shaken. People she thought she knew suddenly assume confusing new identities. Worst of all, her artistic ability deserts her—and if she isn’t an artist, who is she? Since she can’t create images on paper or canvas, there seems to be no reason not to paint her own face and body, no reason not to stop talking for a week, or throw the telephone out the window, or make a boutonniere of raw frogs’ legs for her prom date. . . . Slowly, Taylor finds her way through the aching grief of Grams’s absence and the shifting layers of her emotional reality to a clearer perception of herself, her surroundings, and her connections with others. Poignant, edgy, and irreverent, her voice will resonate with anyone who has had difficulty crossing shaky ground.

Publishers Weekly

Taylor Wickham, the high school junior who narrates Lamm's (Pirates) moving first novel, is an impassioned painter and an all-around left-of-center kid. But Taylor has hit a serious creative block. Lovingly raised by her grandmother since infancy, when her mother was killed by a drunk driver, Taylor is devastated when a stroke incapacitates Grams and leaves her unable even to recognize Taylor. The crisis with Grams widens the emotional distance between Taylor and her father ("There's no chance he'll ever get to know me because I don't show up when he's around. This boring girl shows up instead," Taylor laments). Readers who wish they belonged to artistic families will relish Taylor's descriptions of Grams in her prime (she used a cookie jar to store her favorite words, written on colored strips of paper, and knew how "to shout `Yes!' to life"); nearly everyone will empathize with Taylor's grief and rage. If the creative environment of Taylor's home seems a bit belabored, Taylor's desperation to paint again has a stirring life-and-death quality, whether Taylor is furiously finger-painting with her acrylics or trying to write instead. Plot lines about friendships and relations with boys deftly round out Lamm's balanced, carefully observed story about cycles of growth and regeneration. Ages 12-up. (Nov.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.