The Runaways

In this suspenseful and engaging book, Sonya Terjanian looks at issues of class and intimacy, of the chaos that is youth and the uncertainty that is middle age. The novel, written in lively, vivid prose and very hard to put down, is by turns charming and disturbing. - Andrew Solomon, National Book Award-winning author of The Noonday Demon Beautifully observed, deeply empathetic, and harrowing in the best possible way, The Runaways is a story for anyone who has ever felt lost, isolated, or fantasized about reinventing herself -- and isn't that all of us? - Jenny Rosenstrach, New York Times bestselling author of Dinner: A Love Story Terjanian's entertaining and atmospheric exploration of class, choice (or lack of), and hope will undoubtedly speak to readers. - Publishers Weekly Debut author Terjanian keeps the tension high throughout the book, starting with Ivy and Mary Ellen's assumed identities and continuing through the women's harrowing battle with the unforgiving elements. The struggles that each woman faces are realistic ... There's resolution, but it's not easy or tidy, and it's just ambiguous enough to keep the reader thinking. - Booklist Sonya Terjanian's beautifully crafted second novel, The Runaways, tells the spellbinding stories of two unlikely protagonists-Ivy, a runaway teenage car thief, who grew up in a working-class family in Upstate New York, and Mary Ellen, a successful married business executive, the mother of college-bound twin girls, who is caught in a mid-life identity crisis. Their paths cross unexpectedly in a remote snowed in rural home in Pennsylvania that belongs to Mary Ellen's mentor and friend-Ivy breaking into the unoccupied house to avoid apprehension by the cops and Mary Ellen planning to spend a quiet week alone in her friend's house to hone her skills as an artist-photographer. Ivy is running away from her family to avoid being trapped in a lifestyle she abhors. Mary Ellen is pursuing her quixotic dream of quitting the corporate world and becoming a full-time artist. Despite differences in their age and social class, the two women form an uneasy bond, much of it based on lies and deceptions about their past lives. When Mary Ellen enters the house, she finds Ivy close to death from the combined consequences of starvation and respiratory infection; Mary Ellen nurses Ivy back to life. Ivy, in turn, considers robbing and perhaps killing Mary Ellen, but a few days later, when Mary Ellen is gravely injured by a falling tree branch, Ivy saves Mary Ellen's life. In this superb psychodrama-thriller Terjanian reveals her great talent at storytelling and uncanny attention to detail. I could not put it down. - Jan Vilcek, author of Love and Science