Synopses & Reviews
It's been two years since Mama left, and Nissa still misses her every single day. Papa has remarried, and though Nissa tries to get along with Lara, her new stepmother, they just don't feel like a family to her.
So when Mama shows up again suddenly, asking Nissa to come and stay with her in Chicago for a while, Nissa knows she should be overjoyed. Instead she feels confused. She's never really been away from the small town of Harper, Louisiana before, and life in Chicago turns out to be messy, exciting, and scary all at once.
Where does Nissa belong?
Synopsis
Since her father remarried, Nissa feels like a stranger in her own home. When her new stepmother moves in and rearranges everything, it's almost as if her free-spirited mother never even lived there. Hoping to restore the life she knew, Nissa accepts an invitation from her mother and moves to Chicago.
But life in the big city is overwhelming, and Nissa misses her home and her father. She's thrilled to help her mother sew costumes and plant a rooftop flower garden, but how can she fit in when people talk so fast and don't even care to wish her a good day? After a revelation in the Chicago library, the willful Nissa discovers a way to stake her independence and find her place in her family and life in Louisiana.
Told with the lyricism that marked The Year of the Sawdust Man, Nissa's Place is a beautiful continuation of Nissa's story. Once you meet Nissa Bergen, you'll never forget her.
Synopsis
Uncertain of where she really belongs, 13-year-old Nissa leaves her Louisianahome where she lives with her father and new stepmother and goes to stay withher eccentric mother in Chicago.
Synopsis
Ever since Nissa Bergen's father Ivar remarried, Nissa has felt like a stranger in her own home, clinging to her memories of her free-spirited mother, Heirah Rae, who moved to Chicago to escape the conformity of small-town Louisiana. To make matters worse, she's not ready for the physical changes that are happening to her. So when Heirah asks Nissa to stay with her for a while, Nissa decides it's time for a change. But Heirah's life in Chicago painting sets for a theater is overwhelming to Nissa, and she misses her home and father in Harper. Slowly, Nissa realizes that she has to stop living for her mother and start living for herself. Ivar and Lara's visit convinces her that home is in Harper. And after a revelation in the Chicago library, Nissa discovers a way for her to stake her independence and find her place in her family and her life. Told with the lyricism that marked The Year of the Sawdust Man, Nissa's Place is a beautiful continuation of Nissa's story and a remarkable book on its own. Once you meet Nissa Bergen, you'll never forget her.