Synopses & Reviews
The Admissions brilliantly captures the frazzled pressure cooker of modern life as a seemingly perfect family comes undone by a few desperate measures, long-buried secrets — and college applications!
The Hawthorne family has it all. Great jobs, a beautiful house in one of the most affluent areas of northern California, and three charming kids with perfectly straight teeth. And then comes their eldest daughter's senior year of high school . . .
Firstborn Angela Hawthorne is a straight-A student and star athlete, with extracurricular activities coming out of her ears and a college application that's not going to write itself. She's set her sights on Harvard, her father's alma mater, and like a dog with a chew toy, Angela won't let up until she's basking in crimson-colored glory. Except her class rank as valedictorian is under attack, she's suddenly losing her edge at cross-country, and she can't help but daydream about the cute baseball player in English class. Of course Angela knows the time put into her schoolgirl crush would be better spent coming up with a subject for her term paper — which, along with her college essay and community service hours has a rapidly approaching deadline.
Angela's mother, Nora, is similarly stretched to the limit, juggling parent-teacher meetings, carpool, and a real-estate career where she caters to the mega rich and super-picky buyers and sellers of the Bay Area. The youngest daughter, Maya, still can't read at the age of eight; the middle-child, Cecily, is no longer the happy-go-lucky kid she once was; and the dad, Gabe, seems oblivious to the mounting pressures at home because a devastating secret of his own might be exposed. A few ill-advised moves put the Hawthorne family on a heedless collision course that's equal parts achingly real and delightfully screwball.
Sharp and topical, The Admissions shows that if you pull at a loose thread, even the sturdiest of lives start to unravel at the seams of high achievement.
Review
"Every once in a while I read a book so good that the quality of my entire life improves. The Admissions by Meg Mitchell Moore is a fun, fast-paced, completely engrossing tale of a California family trying to get their eldest daughter into Harvard. Let me rave: this book is brilliant and enjoyable on every level. I LOVED IT! It's my money-back guarantee of 2015."
Elin Hilderbrand, New York Times bestselling author of The Rumor
Review
"[Meg Mitchell Moore's] unique voice and unflinching yet sympathetic perspective combine to create a story that is fresh and unexpectedly entertaining. Moore presents her characters in all their flawed glory and lovable short-sighted determination, spinning out the story of one family's collapse and rebirth with energy and wit. Part thought-provoking commentary, part zany satire on the definition of success and the choices some are willing to make to achieve it, this is a book that is sure to earn a good deal of attention."
RT Book Reviews
Review
"Meg Mitchell Moore is a tremendously talented storyteller. Brimming with humor and warmth, The Admissions introduces readers to a family so insightfully drawn and deliciously flawed that it will remain with you long after you reach the final page. This is a story that feels both uniquely Californian and entirely American — aspiration, desire, spectacular failure, and heartwarming success abound. I loved it!"
Meg Donohue, USA Today bestselling author of Dog Crazy and All the Summer Girls
About the Author
MEG MITCHELL MOORE is the author of the novels The Arrivals and So Far Away. She lives in Newburyport, MA, with her husband and three daughters.