THE LANGUAGE OF CHERRIES

A Florida girl and an Icelandic boy communicate without words in this cross-cultural teenage romance.

Sixteen-year-old budding artist Evie Perez is spending an unhappy summer accompanying her geologist dad on his temporary Iceland assignment, fretting that her best friend might be moving in on her boyfriend back in Miami. The one bright spot in the chilly, gray landscape is a cherry orchard that provides both succulent fruit and an inspiring setting for Evie to paint in. An added attraction is 17-year-old Oskar Eriksson, nephew of Agnes, the Scottish woman who runs the orchard; he has a chiseled torso, tousled blond hair, gorgeous dimples, and an uncanny resemblance to a figure in Evie’s painting, right down to a runic tattoo. Oskar is silent and aloof, and Evie supposes he doesn’t speak English; she thus feels free to gripe about her woes, including her beloved abuela’s creeping dementia and her divorced parents’ plan for her to live with her estranged mom in New York. Oskar has his own secrets: His parents and brother died in a car crash; his stutter makes him shy; and he speaks English perfectly. The two spend the summer processing cherries, dodging the odd earthquake, occasionally smoking marijuana, and edging toward passion. But their relationship is complicated by the mystery of Evie’s dream visions, which feature people from Oskar’s past. Hawkins weaves an atmospheric tale that plays Evie’s warmth against Oskar’s reserve and Agnes’ earthiness. The novel alternates between Evie’s point of view, written in well-observed, naturalistic prose with touches of magic, and excerpts from Oskar’s journal in lyrical blank verse. The latter captures Oskar as an awkward, occasionally rancorous adolescent (“It’s the American mentality / that triggers my upchuck reflex: / Take what you want— / when there’s a problem, / throw money at it,” he writes after Evie offers money when she’s caught with pilfered cherries) and as a poetic soul that many teen girls would find hard to resist: “I pick up the guitar / open up my veins / and bleed music / over the strings.” Readers will root for the pair as they try to figure each other out.

A luminous YA love story with magnetic characters and literary flair.