Whatever Normal Is
2019
“Normal” might not be all it’s cracked up to be. As three old friends, with adulthood looming, navigate the newly confusing territory of love and sexuality and identity, everything they thought they knew is suddenly, frighteningly thrown into question—and they discover that between the dream of stardom and the certainty of housekeeping there’s a vast unsuspected world of peril and possibility.
Jane St. Anthony keenly captures the essence of coming of age: that irreversible moment of discovery that the world is much greater and deeper than you have imagined—and that other people’s lives are as big as your own.
— Jane O’Reilly, author of The Secret of Goldenrod
Isabelle Day Refuses to Die of a Broken Heart
2015
It’s the Midwest in the early 1960s, and Isabelle is reeling from a loss that’s too hard to think—let alone talk—about. With characteristic sensitivity and wit, Jane St. Anthony reveals how a girl’s life clouded with grief can also hold a world of promise.
Well-drawn characters distinguish an understated story about facing loss and keeping an eye out for moments of brightness during difficult times.
— Publishers Weekly
Grace Above All
2007
When an unexpected companion shows up in the middle of a crisis, thirteen-year-old Grace gains hope that maybe the summer won’t be a disaster after all. In Grace Above All, readers will experience a young summer romance and join Grace in gaining a newfound appreciation of family.
Jane St. Anthony has the gift of writing child characters that think and behave like actual children, rather than glib little people filtered through an adult sensibility. They are perfectly etched with an uncommon specificity and generosity of heart.
— Kirkus Reviews
The Summer Sherman Loved Me
2006
A coming-of-age novel set in the early 1960s in Minneapolis, The Summer Sherman Loved Me is an honest look at the struggles of a twelve-year-old girl that transcends time. As Margaret tries to sort out various relationships in her life, readers join her in a journey discovering what it means to grow up.
The Summer Sherman Loved Me is a beautiful, gentle novel about love and hope and the beginning of the end of childhood. This book will make you laugh out loud. It will make you cry. And it will make you wish, very much, that you had a squirrel of your own.
— Kate DiCamillo