WHAT HAPPENED THEN

At their family’s summer island home, two cousins unearth a mystery.

When Aunt Robbie asks her estranged siblings to return to their estate, the site of childhood vacations, 12-year-old cousins Avery and Jax face intriguing questions. What happened to the aunt whose long-ago death is a forbidden topic? What will become of the island, which Grandma, who passed away two years earlier, bequeathed to Aunt Robbie? Who wrote the mysterious note describing all the siblings—perhaps a page from a diary?—that Avery found in her mom’s stuff at home? Sleuthing for clues while the adults sort through the accumulated family belongings, Avery and Jax discover more pages of the journal hidden all over the island, with clues to their aunt’s tragic death. A surprise discovery just before leaving the island forces the cousins to decide whether confronting the harsh truth will bring healing or more pain to the family, especially in light of Aunt Robbie’s disclosure that she’s dying from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Told in first-person chapters that alternate between Avery and Jax and interspersed with entries (entitled “Then”) from the journal, this cross between a mystery, family drama, and coming-of-age story is believable, insightful, and well paced, with genuine dialogue. Avery’s and Jax’s growing appreciation of each other’s self-described “faults” is an affirming central theme, alongside self-acceptance and forgiveness. Characters present white.

A compelling summer mystery, with emotional depth and life lessons to boot.