THE HALF-ORPHAN'S HANDBOOK

After her father's unexpected suicide, sixteen-year-old Lila Cunningham writes a list of rules for herself. The first two read:

1. The only people who can truly hurt you are the ones you love. Therefore, love no one.*

2. Stay away from liars. Liars are the worst.**

*Grandfathered in: Mom, Sammy, Aunt Shelly, Dad

**Example: Dad

At home, it's easy enough for Lila to barricade herself from all relationships - romantic, friendly, or otherwise. As much as she loves her friends, they'll never understand her life now. But when Lila's mother forces her to go to a summer-long grief camp, it's suddenly harder for Lila to follow her own rules. Between swimming and group therapy, Lila finds herself opening up unintentionally, connecting with new friends who see past the suicide stigma, who do"miraculously"understand her pain. Winnie lost her father, too; Madison, her mother. Seven-year-old C.P. from Lila's group therapy sessions lost both of his parents in a devastating car accident. And then there's charming Noah, all eyebrows and ruddy cheeks. Despite her best intentions, Lila finds herself confiding in Noah, sharing intimate details of father's lifetime of deceit and slowly opening her heart to him. It's only when Noah suddenly goes missing that Lila realizes how little he has confided in her - and what she learns about him crumbles the remnants of the protective wall she's started to build for herself.

THE HALF-ORPHAN'S HANDBOOK is a heartrending coming-of-age story in the vein of novels like Cynthia Hand's The Last Time We Say Goodbye, Jennifer Niven's All the Bright Places, and Emily X.R. Pan's The Astonishing Color of After.

Joan F. Smith is a member of SCBWI and has her MFA from Emerson College. She is the Lead Faculty of Creative Writing at SNHU, where she recently launched a fully-online MFA program that focuses on the synthesis of passion and practicality. Her stories and essays have been published in such outlets as the Washington Post, The Journal of the Oxford University History Society, Bartleby Snopes, and Dance Studio Life, where she is a monthly columnist.