The story opens in 1987 with Miri travelling back to her hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey, to attend a commemoration. Thirty-five years earlier, when Miri was 15, three planes crashed around Newark Airport. The book, based on events from Blume's own teenage days, focuses on the effects these disasters had on Miri, her family and friends, and the community around her. As her brother, Henry, makes a name for himself reporting on the tragedy, Miri falls in love for the first time and her close friend falls apart. With this being Blume's first adult novel in 16 years, it's been a long time since I 've read anything by my favourite author from my tweenhood. And what a homecoming this was! With its multiple narratives and window into life in the early 1950s, it was a totally absorbing read. But then again it would have been a very unlikely event that I wouldn't have loved it!
