The Weight of the Stars

Ryann Bird dreams about space, although life in a trailer park makes an astronaut’s future seem far away. Alexandria, an angry and isolated classmate, initially rejects her attempts at friendship. After an accident leaves Alexandria injured, Ryann discovers what keeps her returning to the roof each night: the hope of hearing radio signals from her mother, an astronaut on a one-way mission. Helping with that ritual gives the two girls time to know each other beyond their first impressions. K. Ancrum’s YA romance follows a slowly developing relationship between girls carrying different kinds of loss, while asking what ambition and devotion can demand from those left on Earth.