Dear friends,
I am so incredibly excited to announce that my new book, THE BOY AND GIRL WHO BROKE THE WORLD, is officially out in the world TODAY, and available from online booksellers including Malaprop’s (my local indie), Books-a-Million, Indiebound, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Simon & Schuster. You should also be able to find it at your local bookstores and libraries, and you can always request that they order it if they don’t have a copy. I would be incredibly grateful if you’d leave a positive review on Amazonand Goodreads. It really helps!

This book is very different than my last nine (!) novels. Like all of my books, it deals with pretty dark stuff—two lonely, motherless teens from the wrong side of the tracks; a community wracked by generational poverty, dysfunction, and addiction; and now with the exciting addition of global catastrophe and the end of the world!—but in many ways this is also my most cheerful book. I started writing it after the 2016 election, when I was feeling anything but optimistic. The world was (and is) on fire, but I made a choice to not wallow in it. Instead, I responded to the brokenness of the world with what I thought, maybe, could fix it. And I added a little fantasy and magic while I was at it.

Billy Sloat and Lydia Lemon were born with their cards stacked against them, and, like most of us at one time or another, they’ve had to rely on sometimes questionable coping skills to survive. But in the middle of all the madness, they managed to find each other, and have begun to learn what it takes to survive, and thrive, together—not alone, but as community, as chosen family. They were my family while I wrote this book; they kept me company and gave me hope while the world outside felt like it was falling apart. They reminded me over and over again that the only way to heal the fracturing of our hearts is through connection.

I also found that a great way to deal with the absurdity of the world is to make it even more absurd, so in this book you will also find unicorns and dragons, a mad king, a narcissistic rock star, a haunted house, a little ghost, modern dance, nefarious birds, singing dolls, a little romance, and all kinds of extreme weather. Because why not?

I hope you will find Billy and Lydia to be as wonderful companions as they were for me. Maybe they will even teach you a little about what it takes to survive the apocalypse.

Below you will find some more info about THE BOY AND GIRL WHO BROKE THE WORLD. Thanks so much for your support, and thank you for reading.

Love,
Amy

THE BOY AND GIRL WHO BROKE THE WORLD
by Amy Reed

The Astonishing Color of After meets Eleanor & Park in this breathtaking and beautifully surreal story about a friendship between two teens that just might shake the earth around them or at the very least make them face some painful truths about the nature of what drives us apart…and what brings us together.

Billy Sloat and Lydia Lemon don’t have much in common, unless you count growing up on the same (wrong) side of the tracks, the lack of a mother, and a persistent loneliness that has inspired creative coping mechanisms.

When the lives of these two loners are thrust together, Lydia’s cynicism is met with Billy’s sincere optimism, and both begin to question their own outlook on life. On top of that, weird happenings including an impossible tornado and an all-consuming fog are cropping up around them—maybe even because of them. And as the two grow closer and confront bigger truths about their pasts, they must also deal with such inconveniences as a narcissistic rock star, a war between unicorns and dragons, and eventually, of course, the apocalypse.

With a unique mix of raw emotion, humor, and heart, the surreal plotline pulls readers through an epic exploration of how caring for others makes us vulnerable—and how utterly pointless life would be if we didn’t.

PS: The beautiful new paperback edition of THE NOWHERE GIRLSis out today too! Go ahead and pick up a copy when you buy THE BOY AND GIRL WHO BROKE THE WORLD🙂

My new book THE BOY AND GIRL WHO BROKE THE WORLD comes out in ONE MONTH (which you can pre-order from all the places), and to celebrate I made a book-inspired PLAYLIST that includes tons of my favorite songs from the Pacific Northwest music scene in the 90’s, which will make perfect sense once you know a little more about the book.

BOY AND GIRL is set in a fictional coastal Washington county called Fog Harbor, which is closely based on Grays Harbor county where my dad (and Kurt Cobain) came from. Billy Sloat, one of the main characters, has an uncle named Caleb who’s the most famous rock star in the world, front man for the band Rainy Day Knife Fight (FYI coming up with fictional band names is the best). At one point in the book, Billy describes his uncle’s music as sounding like “fog and rainstorms and rocks on train tracks and old trees cracking,” which is where I got the title for this playlist. The phrase could also describe most of my favorite music.

I grew up in Seattle in the 90’s and was a music nerd. My family has a strangely close relationship with Kurt Cobain (my cousin was his best friend and Kurt lived with my uncle and family for a while when he left home in high school). Despite this connection, perhaps because of my younger age or my naturally sentimental disposition, I always felt more aligned with the music that came later. Less metal, more melodic. This playlist has both—Nirvana and some of the harder early-90’s stuff, with a lot of the more hipster indie stuff that I fell in love with in the late 90’s.

Kurt Cobain would have probably hated Death Cab for Cutie. He would have probably called them, like Caleb Sloat calls other popular bands in the book, “all those turds with master’s degrees in, like, philosophy and art history [wearing] fucking ties and loafers and fedoras and shit.”

But I think that tension is an important part of the book, and an important part of the music inspired by my home. I come from a place that is full of rain and anger and sadness and a deep mysterious beauty, and there is a long lineage of people who have made very different music and art and literature out of all of these things. This book is a humble attempt to be part of that lineage. Billy Sloat and Lydia Lemon, the heroes of THE BOY AND GIRL WHO BROKE THE WORLD, are trying, like we all are to some extent, to make something beautiful out of their pain. As am I.

I’ll just say, if you only listen to one song on this playlist, it should be Hoquiam by Damien Jurado, named after my dad’s (and Damien’s, and maybe Lydia Lemon’s) hometown. If there is one song that sounds like the Washington coast on a cold wet cloudy day, it’s this.

Also, Don’t Touch My Bikini, by the Halo Benders. Because it’s awesome.

CLICK HERE for

THE BOY AND GIRL WHO BROKE THE WORLD Playlist

“Fog and rainstorms and rocks on trees tracks and old trees cracking”

1. Come As You Are (Nirvana)
2. Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns (Mother Love Bone)
3. Hoquiam (Damien Jurado)
4. Entire (The Spinanes)
5. Dramamine (Modest Mouse)
6. Car (Built to Spill)
7. Coming Up Roses (Elliott Smith)
8. Slow and Steady Wins the Race (Pedro the Lion)
9. Bend to Squares (Death Cab for Cutie)
10. Gnossienne No. 1 (Satie)
11. I Wish I Was the Moon (Neko Case)
12. Sheets (Damien Jurado)
13. Between the Bars (Elliott Smith)
14. Lithium (Nirvana)
15. Everybody’s Best Friend (Hazel)
16. Last Call (Elliott Smith)
17. Good Things (Sleater-Kinney)
18. Would? (Alice in Chains)
19. Rock Star (Hole)
20. Don’t Touch My Bikini (The Halo Benders)
21. I Felt Your Shape (The Microphones)
22. 405 (Death Cab for Cutie)
23. This Tornado Loves You (Neko Case)
24. Sweepstakes Prize (Mirah)
25. Company Calls Epilogue (Death Cab for Cutie)
26. Bad Things to Such Good People (Pedro the Lion)
27. Tornado (Damien Jurado)
28. Gymnopedies: No. 3, Lent et grave (Satie)
29. To Protect the Family Name (Pedro the Lion)
30. Truly (Hazel)
31. Montesano (Damien Jurado)
32. Say Yes (Elliott Smith)

Yes, I went a little overboard. As I said: music nerd.

I am beyond thrilled to finally share the cover for my new book, THE BOY AND GIRL WHO BROKE THE WORLD, coming Summer 2019. Writing this book kept my heart from breaking over the last couple very difficult years. It’s about lovable weirdos, the healing power of friendship, and finding hope even when the world is falling apart.

And it’s available for pre-order HERE!

Here’s a little more about the book:

THE BOY AND GIRL WHO BROKE THE WORLD
BY AMY REED

The Astonishing Color of After meets Eleanor & Park in this breathtaking and beautifully surreal story about a friendship between two teens that just might shake the earth around them or at the very least make them face some painful truths about the nature of what drives us apart…and what brings us together.

Billy Sloat and Lydia Lemon don’t have much in common, unless you count growing up on the same (wrong) side of the tracks, the lack of a mother, and a persistent loneliness that has inspired creative coping mechanisms.

When the lives of these two loners are thrust together, Lydia’s cynicism is met with Billy’s sincere optimism, and both begin to question their own outlook on life. On top of that, weird happenings including an impossible tornado and an all-consuming fog are cropping up around them—maybe even because of them. And as the two grow closer and confront bigger truths about their pasts, they must also deal with such inconveniences as a narcissistic rock star, a war between unicorns and dragons, and eventually, of course, the apocalypse.

With a unique mix of raw emotion, humor, and heart, the surreal plotline pulls readers through an epic exploration of how caring for others makes us vulnerable—and how utterly pointless life would be if we didn’t.