Book guide
The How & the Why
An adopted teen searching for where she came from begins uncovering answers written to her eighteen years earlier.
Genre and trope pairingsYoung AdultSelf-discoveryYoung AdultComing of ageContemporary FictionSelf-discoveryContemporary FictionComing of ageContemporary FictionFamily secrets
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About The How & the Why
Cassandra McMurtrey loves the parents who raised her, but as she nears adulthood she still wants to understand where she came from. Her search runs alongside a series of letters written eighteen years earlier by the pregnant teenager who placed her for adoption. Told across those two perspectives, the novel explores the questions, choices and connections that shape a family.
Reading signals
- Spice
- Light
- Darkness
- Balanced
- Pacing
- Fast
Content warnings
- heart transplant
- teen pregnancy
- adoption
- parental death
- war
- racism
- depression
- alcoholism
- attempted suicide
- drug abuse
- hospitalisation
- off-page physical abuse
