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Jennifer E. Smith grew up outside of Chicago and graduated from Colgate University. She earned her master's in creative writing from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and currently lives in New York City, where she roots for the Cubs from afar. This is her first novel.

Emma Healy has never fit in with the rest of her family. She's grown used to being the only ordinary one among her rather extraordinary parents and siblings. But when she finds a birth certificate for a twin brother she never knew she had, along with a death certificate dated just two days later, she feels like a part of her has been justified in never feeling quite whole. Suddenly it seems important to visit his grave, to set off in search of her missing half. When her next-door neighbor Peter Finnegan — who has a quiet affinity for maps and a desperate wish to escape their small town — ends up coming along for the ride, Emma thinks they can't possibly have anything in common. But as they head from upstate New York toward North Carolina, driving a beat-up and technically stolen car and picking up a stray dog along the way, they find themselves learning more and more about each other. Neither is exactly sure what they're looking for, but with each passing mile, each new day of this journey, they seem to be getting much closer to finding it.

Children's Literature

Put a map-crazy history buff, an ordinary teenage girl, a three-legged large-hearted dog, and one blue convertible together and the result enchants. Emma Healy, daughter of two college professors, and Peter Finnegan, son of the local police chief, have lived next to each other for years. As the youngest in a brilliant family of academics who often forget the basics amidst their philosophizing, Emma as always struggled to fit in. The only son of widower with no ambitions and few parenting skills, Peter struggles to relate to a father who refuses to tell him about his mother. Emma's discovery of the birth and death certificate of a twin she never knew she had provides the catalyst that propels both teenagers out of their homes. They are drawn together by mutual need. Emma needs a car; Peter needs to finally follow his beloved maps. They begin a trip from upstate New York to North Carolina. This trip soon proves more than pilgrimage to a grave or a Civil War battlefield. The characters are masterfully drawn and the plot contains the right amount of humor and poignancy to attract those in search of a heartwarming and entertaining read. Reviewer: Amalia Selle