Other editions of book All Rivers Flow to the Sea

"McGhee writes confidently as one who remembers the ordinariness of adolescence as well as its angst . . . and compellingly creates a protagonist blindsided by loss." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)For seventeen-year-old Rose, it keeps happening — the car crash. The car crash that put her sister, Ivy, in a coma with only a respirator keeping her alive. While Rose tries to find support from her reticent mother, distraction from the series of boys she meets at the town’s gorge at night, and empathy from her neighbor William T., what she really needs must come from within herself — a release of what’s been welling up inside. Heartrending, honest, and ultimately hopeful, this is the tale of a teenager overwhelmed by trauma and loss, yet steadied by loyal friendship and the solace of first love.

When a car accident leaves a teenage girl in a coma, her surviving sister struggles with grief and guilt as she faces the inevitability of moving on — and letting go.To seventeen-year-old Rose, it seems it keeps happening — that car crash on a mountain road, her older sister, Ivy, behind the wheel, the same Ivy who is now in a coma with only the WISHHH of a respirator keeping her alive. Mom refuses to believe that Ivy is gone and won't even visit, spending her days at the brewing factory and her nights in the mindless weaving of potholders or folding of paper cranes. It's up to Rose and family friend William T. to make the daily vigil to Ivy's bedside, where Rose reads aloud from a book on the sudden destruction of ancient Pompeii. More and more, she has the frightening sense that there are rivers inside her threatening to overflow their banks. In an effort to feel something — anything — else, she takes to meeting a series of boys at the gorge while her mind drifts away like a hovering bird, watching her actions below.Heart-rending, honest, and ultimately hopeful, this first young adult novel from the acclaimed author of Shadow Babyand Snap is the poetically told story of a teenager overwhelmed by trauma and loss yet steadied by loyal friendships and, finally, the solace of first love.

"McGhee writes confidently as one who remembers the ordinariness of adolescence as well as its angst . . . and compellingly creates a protagonist blindsided by loss." — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review)For seventeen-year-old Rose, it keeps happening — the car crash. The car crash that put her sister, Ivy, in a coma with only a respirator keeping her alive. While Rose tries to find support from her reticent mother, distraction from the series of boys she meets at the town’s gorge at night, and empathy from her neighbor William T., what she really needs must come from within herself — a release of what’s been welling up inside. Heartrending, honest, and ultimately hopeful, this is the tale of a teenager overwhelmed by trauma and loss, yet steadied by loyal friendship and the solace of first love.

To seventeen-year-old Rose, the accident keeps happening - that car crash on a mountain road with her older sister behind the wheel, the crash that leaves Ivy in a vegetative comma and Rose to struggle with the loss of her big sister Ivy. Mom is blind to Rose's pain and refuses to accept the truth of Ivy's condition; she won't even visit Ivy's bedside. Instead, she goes to work at the factory and