NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF TIME’S 100 BEST YA BOOKS OF ALL TIME • In this “bold, even breathtaking” (The New York Times Book Review) novel, fraternal twins find their way back to each other after years of misunderstandings and only having half the story.
“A blazing prismatic explosion of color.”—Entertainment Weekly
“An exquisite surrender to wonder and possibilities.”—The Boston Globe
“Powerful and well-crafted . . . Stunning.”—Time
Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them.
But three years later, at sixteen, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life.
The early years are Noah’s story to tell. The later years are Jude’s. What the twins don’t realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to each other, they’d have a chance to remake their world.
This radiant novel from the acclaimed, award-winning author of
The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.
MICHAEL L. PRINTZ AWARD WINNER • A STONEWALL HONOR BOOK • BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: KIRKUS REVIEWS, BOSTON GLOBE, BUSTLE, SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, YALSA
Jandy Nelson, like her characters in
I’ll Give You the Sun, comes from a superstitious lot. She was tutored from a young age in the art of the four-leaf clover hunt; she knocks wood, throws salt, and carries charms in her pockets. Her debut novel,
The Sky Is Everywhere, was on multiple Best Books of the Year lists, was a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults pick, earned numerous starred reviews, has been translated widely, and continues to enjoy great international success. Jandy has a BA from Cornell, an MFA in poetry from Brown, and another MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Currently a full-time writer, Jandy lives and writes in San Francisco, California—not far from the settings of
The Sky Is Everywhere and
I’ll Give You the Sun.
"This is the big one—the blazing story of once inseparable twins whose lives are torn apart by tragedy."
—Entertainment Weekly"Have you ever wanted to put a book in all of your friends' hands? This is that kind of book . . . Heartbreakingly honest."
—San Francisco Chronicle"Bold, even breathtaking. You get the sense [the] characters are bursting through the words, breaking free of normal metaphors and constructions, jubilantly trying to rise up from the prison of language."
—The New York Times Book Review"Both structurally virtuosic . . . and emotionally wrenching. That alone is a rare combination in literature, YA or otherwise. But then add in the characters . . . This book is a rebuttal to anyone suggesting YA, because it tells stories of young people, is somehow of lesser stuff."
—Parade"A book where teenagers think in almost indulgently poetic language while still sounding genuinely adolescent. It's two separate but equally intoxicating love stories."
—NPR"This book is about many things: grief, sexuality, creativity, bravery, identity, guilt. But mostly it's about love. Be prepared with more tissues than you needed for
The Fault in Our Stars, a chunky notebook to scribble down all the quotes and a handful of witty responses when people ask why you're chuckling to yourself in the corner. Because this book will make you realise how beautiful words can be."
—The Guardian"Simply unforgettable. . . . If you’re looking for a book that’s deep and powerful and beautiful, look no further. You must read
I’ll Give You the Sun."
—HuffPost"Otherworldly and mesmerizing."
—The Boston Globe"This one is going to be big . . . It is full of all the good stuff that sticks with you: love, identity struggles, loss, betrayal, and the complications of family, so you'll probably feel all the feels."
—Bustle"Ingeniously told from the alternating perspectives of its spunky twin protagonists, this (technically) young adult noel jubilantly holds its own against the fall's grown-up offerings, with dead-on insights about surviving youth—and family."
—O, the Oprah Magazine"You'd think that we were plugging
The Fault in Our Stars, but even that comparison might sell short
I'll Give You the Sun . . . [It's] planted firmly in the positive, making for a gravity-defying, life-affirming experience."
—San Francisco Magazine"Will pluck at your heartstrings."
—People"A wild, beautiful, and profoundly moving novel. Jandy Nelson’s writing is so electric, so alive, her pages practically glow in the dark."
—Ransom Riggs, New York Times bestselling author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and Hollow City"Jandy Nelson is a rare, explosive talent, and one of the best writers working today. Her prose is vivid, breathtaking, and drenched in passion, and her stories remind me why words can change the world."—
Tahereh Mafi, New York Times bestselling author of the Shatter Me series "I love this book. Jandy Nelson is my new writing hero. Read this book. She'll be your favorite author as well."
—Holly Goldberg Sloan, New York Times bestselling author of Counting by 7s"Jandy Nelson’s writing is poetic and mesmerizing. More importantly, Nelson weaves a novel that seeps into your bones like fire on a cold day . . .
I’ll Give You the Sun is a novel that promises a story like nothing else and then delivers it.”
—Garret Freymann-Weyr, author of Printz Honor book, My Heartbeat"A resplendent novel . . . Art and wonder fill each page."
—School Library Journal, starred review"Nelson’s prose is replete with moments of stunning emotional clarity, and her characters are as irresistible to the reader as they are to each other."
—BCCB, starred review"An intricate and absorbing work of art emerges from the details of the interlaced sections. Few novels about twins capture so well the rewards and challenges . . . or the way in which people who have loved us remain in our minds after their deaths."
—VOYA
