WHERE WE ARE

Two teens demonstrate loyalty and resilience in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

A week before winter break, the Prophet of the Living Lights cult whisks 17-year-old Micah Stone and his parents away to a secret compound. The Minneapolis high school junior has been worried about his parents’ involvement with the group and has a plan in place to notify his girlfriend, Sesame, should something like this happen. But, forced to leave cellphones behind, all he can do is scribble a cryptic note for her before being loaded into the van. Sesame, who recently turned 18, has lived alone since her grandmother passed away. Only Micah knows that her home is an abandoned garage in an alley. Sesame and Micah have shared dreams for their future—traveling, fire spinning, and opening a cafe highlighting Micah’s cooking. When Sesame realizes that Micah has been taken, she files a missing person report and begins her search. Micah, meanwhile, is trapped belowground with 16 cult members, singled out for punishment for insubordination, and with ample time to reflect. Alternating first-person chapters follow the teens’ dueling experiences of intimacy and loss. Sesame’s passion for poetry and Micah’s will to endure are rendered with depth and precision. Ultimately, this is a celebration of growing up and finding one’s voice in the face of hardship and societal expectation. Limited physical descriptions point to a White default for most characters.

A thoughtful, realistic story of survival.