Marilou Is Everywhere

A Novel

By: Sarah Elaine Smith

Narrated by: Kristen Sieh

Finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize for First Fiction

One of NPR’s Favorite Books of 2019

A SKIMM READS PICK

A BELLETRIST BOOK CLUB PICK

"This novel reads like a miracle." —NPR

Consumed by the longing for a different life, a teenager flees her family and carefully slips into another — replacing a girl whose own sudden disappearance still haunts the town.

Fourteen-year-old Cindy and her two older brothers live in rural Pennsylvania, in a house with occasional electricity, two fierce dogs, one book, and a mother who comes and goes for months at a time. Deprived of adult supervision, the siblings rely on one another for nourishment of all kinds. As Cindy's brothers take on new responsibilities for her care, the shadow of danger looms larger and the status quo no longer seems tolerable.

So when a glamorous teen from a more affluent, cultured home goes missing, Cindy escapes her own family's poverty and slips into the missing teen's life. As Jude Vanderjohn, Cindy is suddenly surrounded by books and art, by new foods and traditions, and most important, by a startling sense of possibility. In her borrowed life she also finds herself accepting the confused love of a mother who is constitutionally incapable of grasping what has happened to her real daughter. As Cindy experiences overwhelming maternal love for the first time, she must reckon with her own deceits and, in the process, learn what it means to be a daughter, a sister, and a neighbor.

Marilou Is Everywhere is a powerful, propulsive portrait of an overlooked girl who finds for the first time that her choices matter.

Hard and beautiful

A poignant unraveling of trauma, addiction, loss and madness. Vivid, evocative language that makes you wish you were a better writer. A hard and beautiful love letter to the power of looking forward when the road traveled has nothing left to offer.

Old School Literary Spirit Lives in This One

If you’re a fan of the 1946 Carson McCullers novel The Member of the Wedding with its season-drenched (mostly summer) descriptions, long interior monologues, conversations that support character and theme more than plot, and an aching child protagonist who is lost in her rural world, then this novel will please you. The plot does matter: I wanted to know what happens to the characters. The language is lovely as well. I look forward to the author’s next book!

Quirky heartbreaking and sweet

It took me a little bit to get into this audio book but I ended up enjoying it. It’s a pretty quirky story but it’s really well written and all the characters are sort of heartbreaking and endearing in their own way. I would definitely read this author again.

Disappointing

Was a very slow moving book with no real climax. The whole plot was a little disappointing. The imagery felt over done and didn't move the story along or add to it but just drug it out.

Dreadful

Even if free, this isn’t worth listening to. Poorly written, uninteresting and also boring. I can’t think of anything positive to write.