WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Abby, a, rural Wisconsin preteen with a passion for astronomy, concocts a secret plan to help her sister Blair, 18, who suffers from a life-threatening eating disorder.

Middle sister Jade, 16, is preoccupied with friends and a summer job; Blair’s in residential treatment while their parents ready the family’s rustic resort to host media and sightseers for the forthcoming solar eclipse. Isolated, Abby, whose besties have inexplicably dropped her, attracts the interest of renowned astronomer Leo Lacamoire, a visitor who recruits her to dig up a time capsule containing a valuable telescope stolen from him. Abby agrees, provided Leo promises to introduce her to his editor, who Abby hopes will publish Planet Pirates, a collection of stories she’s written and Blair’s illustrated. Despite long-laid plans to view the eclipse with her astronomy-teacher dad, Abby realizes her only chance to dig up the time capsule unobserved is during the event. Into this plot vignettes from the past are interwoven in reverse chronology, a technique that brings Blair’s story—the novel’s strength—into heartbreaking relief. A perfectionist whose ballet hopes were stoked and manipulated by a ruthless teacher, appealing Blair is entirely convincing. But the plot’s unlikely resolution rests on secondary characters’ implausible, sketchy motivations—not those of the sisters readers care about. The subplot involving Abby, Leo, and the time capsule not only fails to persuade, it undermines what does. Abby’s family and Leo all present white.

A flawed debut—but a promising one.