Set during the summer of '69 in rural Virginia, Kagen's stellar third novel, her first in hardcover, chronicles the dramatic changes in the lives of 11-year-old Shenny Carmody and her twin sister, Woody, nearly a year after their mother's disappearance. Woody hasn't spoken since, and their father, a renowned judge, spends most of his nights in a drunken stupor at Lilyfield, their Rockbridge County estate, often turning violent and cruel toward his two daughters. Shenny, adventurous and bright, takes it upon herself to locate their beloved Mama and discover why she left them. In her quest for the truth, Shenny learns many heart-wrenching lessons, not least among them that first impressions “can be dead wrong.” Kagen (Whistling in the Dark) not only delivers a spellbinding story but also takes a deep look into the mores, values, and shams of a small Southern community in an era of change. (May)

"...the charming, genuine voice of Shenny, whose country-Southern dialect is beautifully rendered with rhythmic cadences, is impossible to resist...Overall, it's the tender bond between the twins that redeems the world from the cruelty around them and keeps you rooting for them right up until the end."
-Milwaukee Magazine

"Shenandoah leaps off the page in vivid color: sparky, resourceful, trying to cope...and doing it with the matter-of-fact, heartbreaking courage that kids learn when there's no other choice. This book is packed with warmth, wit, intelligence, images savory enough to taste-and deep dark places that are all the more terrible for being surrounded by so much brightness."
-Tana French, New York Times bestselling author of In the Woods and The Likeness

"Be prepared for all your other obligations to be neglected when you begin Tomorrow River. I fell so deeply in love with the spunky, brave, broken- hearted Shenny and her fragile twin Woody that I couldn't rest or concentrate on anything else...Shenny warns us early on that first impressions 'can be dead wrong,' and that holds true to the last page of the novel. I was continually surprised, and as a reader that means continually delighted-a rare gift."
-Katrina Kittle, author of The Kindness of Strangers

Shenandoah Carmody is determined to track her mother, who has been missing for almost a year. Problem is, Shenny is only 11 and forbidden to leave the house by her father, who drinks too much and has gotten much stricter, even cruel. She also has to care for her twin, Woody, who's so badly traumatized by their mother's disappearance that she hasn't spoken since and runs off every chance she gets. The voice of Shenny is the best part of this Southern gothic, which is set in 1969. She's optimistic, determined, devious, precocious to the point of implausibility, and wrong about practically everything. VERDICT Author Kagen also narrates and her drawl slathers on the charm. The reading, along with a few real surprises, makes this a good bet.—John Hiett, Iowa City P.L.

Author Lesley Kagen succeeds as narrator with a solid performance of this audiobook, a literary thriller set in 1969 in rural Virginia. It’s a first-person narrative, told from the point of view of Shenandoah, an enterprising, observant tween whose vocabulary is peppered with legal jargon. Her twin sister, Woody, lacks the same emotional fortitude and, triggered by their mom’s disappearance, has withdrawn into a silent world. As the mystery progresses, the teens learn dark secrets about their drunk of a dad (a local judge) and their off-kilter Southern family. There are moments when the listener may wonder what a professional narrator would have done with the same material, but Kagen (who has voice-over experience) succeeds by carefully balancing an author’s sense of intimacy with a narrator’s sense of drama. R.W.S. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine