Goodbye Stranger

Rebecca Stead

Bridge has always been a bit of an oddball, but since she recovered from a serious accident, she's found fitting in with her friends increasingly hard. Tab and Em are getting cooler and they don't get why she insists on wearing novelty cat ears every day. Bridge just thinks they look good. It's getting harder to keep their promise of no fights, especially when they start keeping secrets from each other.
Sherm wants to get to know Bridge better. But he’s hiding the anger he feels at his grandfather for walking out.
And then there is another girl, who is struggling with an altogether more serious set of friendship troubles...
Told from interlinked points of view, this is a bittersweet story about the trials of friendship and growing up.

Reviews

"Masterly. . . Sensitively explores togetherness, aloneness, betrayal and love"
Meg Wolitzer - New York Times

"A glorious celebration of love, friendship and betrayal that draws attention to the increasingly difficult problem of retaining one's own identity in a time of obsessive social media."
Sally Morris - Daily Mail

"A must-read for any child at secondary school... I can't think of any contemporary children's author who is as good at humanising teenagers and conveying the business of growing up."
Alex O'Connell - The Times, Books of the Year

"A touching and gentle love story... Stead is respectful of individuality and generous, witty and nonjudgemental about the confusion caused by falling in love."
Julia Eccleshare - Guardian, The Best of 2015

"A deft and witty coming of age drama"
Independent

"A novel that tackles big themes in a wry understated way."
Martin Chilton, The Telegraph

"An extraordinary novel"
Washington Post, The Best Children's Books of 2015

"Bittersweet story from multi-award-winner Stead. Highly recommended."
The Bookseller, Fiona Noble