Small Damages

A high school senior is shipped off to a sun-soaked Spanish village in order to secretly give birth then return like nothing has ever happened—but is that really the only option?

“The novel is a story about choices . . . but also about finding one’s self.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Delicate and luscious.”—Kathryn Erskine, author of National Book Award-winner Mockingbird

The future should be right within reach, but for Kenzie the future has suddenly been rearranged. It’s senior year, and while she should be looking forward to prom and starting college in the fall, she discovers she’s pregnant. Her mother sends her to Spain, where she will live out her pregnancy, and her child will be adopted by a Spanish couple. No one will ever know.

Alone in a foreign country, Kenzie is at first resentful. But as she gets to know the rough land and the mysterious people in it, she begins to open her eyes, and her heart, to the beauty that is around her, and inside her. Kenzie realizes she has some serious choices to make—choices about life, love, and home.

Lyrically told in a way that makes the heat, the colors, and the smells of Spain feel alive, Small Damages is a feast for the heart and the soul, and a novel not easily forgotten.