This book is a journey and a hard journey, stick with it and keep reading as it is worth it.  The first 100 plus pages are confusing and hard to get through, but as I said before keep reading.  The confusing part is the story is told between two perspectives set in the present and the past, and these two stories do not seem to have a connect.  However, the two eventually come together unraveling a story of grief, sorrow, life, and hope.  This story contains it all, love, friendship, family, drugs, abuse, suicide, car accidents, cancer, death, loss, grief, hope, and much, much more.

The first story is about Taylor Markham, the main character, who is a grief stricken teen.  She was abandoned by her mother at a 7-11 and is taken to a school on Jellicoe Road.  There she is the leader of one of the school’s six houses and must direct the house in territorial wars with the cadets and townies.

The second is a story that was written by Hannah, a local woman, who cares for Taylor as she has no family to speak of.  Hannah story is about the time when she and Taylor’s parents were at Jellicoe.  Taylor finds this story and through it uncovers the truth about her life.

As I mentioned previously, this book is confusing and the two stories do not seem to fit together but keep reading it will be worth it.