Split

In Swati Avasthi's debut novel, Split, Sixteen-year-old Jace Witherspoon just wants to be a normal teenager. He dreams of soccer games, girlfriends, and his love for photography that are not tainted by his past. Growing up with an abusive father, a passive mother and a brother who abandoned him when he needed him the most, Jace is afraid for his future. Finally standing up to his father, he escapes his past that he just... Read Full Review

When Jace Witherspoon was eleven, his older brother, Christian, ran away from home to escape the devastating abuse both he and his mother had suffered at the hands of their father, a well-respected Chicago judge who believed he was above the very law he swore to uphold. For the next five years, Jace and his mother bore his father's wrath alone, at times barely escaping fatal injuries -- until the day that Jace came home to... Read Full Review

"The envelope says 4B. Even though 4B is labeled MARSHALL, I press the button, and the buzz echoes in the tiny foyer. Answer. Be home and answer. "Outside, a FedEx truck roars, pauses, and roars again. Its white profile steals away, leaving only a gasp of gray exhaust. A shrunken man drags the door open and holds it for his shrunken wife. Before they even step over the threshold, they see me and stop. "I am quite the... Read Full Review

Swati Avasthi's SPLIT is that rare bird in YA literature: a classic character study that moves you to turn the pages as quickly as a plot book would. Here we have a 16-year-old kid named Jace who's on the run from a house of domestic violence. His dad, a respected judge by day, beats his wife silly, while his second punching bag -- Jace's older brother, Christian, has fled Chicago for New Mexico. When Jace tries to intercede... Read Full Review

When his abusive father kicks him out for having the audacity to fight back, 16-year-old Jace Witherspoon has only one place to go--his older brother Christian in New Mexico. From Chicago to Albuquerque is not an easy trip, particularly if you have only recently gotten your license and don't have money, but Jace goes with the faith that his brother will take him in. You see, Christian ran away several years ago and has... Read Full Review