Watch Over Me

by Nina LaCour
Jorjeana Marie

Audiobook

0 of 1 copy available

Wait time: About 2 weeks

Place a hold Listen to a sample Listen to a sample

0 of 1 copy available

Wait time: About 2 weeks

A modern ghost story about trauma and survival, Watch Over Me is the much-anticipated new novel from the Printz Award-winning author of We Are Okay
★ “Gripping; an emotion-packed must-read.” –Kirkus, starred review
★ “A painfully compelling gem from a masterful creator.” –Booklist, starred review
★ “Moving, unsettling, and full of atmospheric beauty.” –SLJ, starred review

Mila is used to being alone.
Maybe that’s why she said yes. Yes to a second chance in this remote place, among the flowers and the fog and the crash of waves far below.
But she hadn’t known about the ghosts.
Newly graduated from high school, Mila has aged out of the foster care system. So when she’s offered a teaching job and a place to live on an isolated part of the Northern California coast, she immediately accepts. Maybe she will finally find a new home—a real home. The farm is a refuge, but it’s also haunted by the past. And Mila’s own memories are starting to rise to the surface.

Nina LaCour, the Printz Award–winning author of We Are Okay, delivers another emotional knockout with Watch Over Me about trauma and survival, chosen family and rebirth.

Creators
- Nina LaCour
  
  Author
- Jorjeana Marie
  
  Narrator
Publisher

Books on Tape

Edition: Unabridged
Release date

September 15, 2020
Formats
- OverDrive Listen audiobook
  - ISBN: 9780593288214
  - File size: 161445 KB
  - Duration: 05:36:20
Languages
- English
Levels
- Lexile® Measure: 630
- Text Difficulty: 2-3
Reviews
- Publisher's Weekly
  
  Starred review from August 10, 2020
  Mila, 18, is thrilled to leave behind four years of foster care when she is given the opportunity to live and work at a picturesque coastal farm in Northern California whose owners, Terry and Julia, care for adopted children of all ages and bring on interns to share the workload. Mila, haunted by the events that led to her mother’s abandoning her, wants desperately to believe that she is “good,” and she strives to be a trusted companion and compassionate teacher to her sole student on the farm, nine-year-old Lee. The two bond over their similar histories, made-up fairy tales, and a shared sense of distance from the rest of the close-knit community, including their dislike of the ghosts that inhabit the idyllic, foggy farm. As mysterious gifts that link to Mila’s past begin appearing on her doorstep, she confronts memories of childhood trauma, told in short interstitial chapters. Printz Medalist LaCour’s (We Are Okay) portrait of a young woman yearning to belong and facing her past while navigating the liminal space between childhood and adulthood brims with tender moments and sensory details. Ages 14–up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties.
- AudioFile Magazine
  
  Jorjeana Marie's quiet, somber narration adds to the eerie beauty of this haunting story about grief, chosen family, and the ghosts we carry. When 18-year-old Mila ages out of the foster system, she takes a job on a remote farm on the California coast. The farm is home to children with nowhere to go, who all carry pain similar to Mila's. Marie's raw, husky voice is melodic and mesmerizing. She imbues her narration with the rhythms of the sea and wind, transporting listeners to the farm where trauma, love, healing, and magic mix. As she expertly captures the many stages of Mila's journey from pain and denial to joy, she also creates memorable voices for young children and ghosts. This is an absolutely gorgeous listen. L.S. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
- Library Journal
  
  Starred review from March 1, 2021
  Mila has long been haunted by her past, both in memory and by the ghosts that follow her. When she ages out of foster care, Mila gains a placement as a teacher at an isolated farm in Northern California. Terry and Julia are known for taking in foster children with troubled pasts, but Mila doesn't realize that it's not only children who live at the farm; ghosts claim the space as well. As she becomes more at home at the farm, the hauntings increase and so do the memories she is desperately trying to escape, the things she's done in her past that creep into her daily life. Mila struggles with being accepted and welcomed, which conflict with her own sense of worth and feelings of guilt and regret. The audiobook is read by Jorjeana Marie, and her gentle and melodic voice brings LaCour's atmospheric story to life. She captures the feel of the isolation on the farm, the spooky but not scary presence of the ghosts, and the melancholy sadness that aches in Mila. Her narration coupled with LaCour's emotional text bring the story alive around the listener. It's a moving tale of loneliness, regret, acceptance, and forgiveness. VERDICT Fans of LaCour's previous YA novels will not be disappointed by this hauntingly beautiful tale. The audiobook is a cathartic masterpiece and will evoke strong emotions in listeners.--Erica Coonelly, Monroe Township M.S., NJ
  
  Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
- School Library Journal
  
  Starred review from March 1, 2021
  Gr 9 Up-Mila has long been haunted by her past, both in memory and by the ghosts that follow her. When she ages out of foster care, Mila gains a placement as a teacher at an isolated farm in Northern California. Terry and Julia are known for taking in foster children with troubled pasts, but Mila doesn't realize that it's not only children who live at the farm, but ghosts claim the space as well. As she becomes more at home at the farm, the hauntings increase the memories she is desperately trying to escape, the things she's done in her past that creep into her daily life. Mila struggles with being accepted and welcomed, conflicting with her own sense of worth and feelings of guilt and regret. The audiobook is read by Jorjeana Marie, and her gentle and melodic voice brings LaCour's atmospheric story to life; she captures the feel of the isolation on the farm, the spooky but not scary presence of the ghosts, and the melancholy that aches in Mila. Her narration coupled with LaCour's emotional text brings the story alive around the listener. It's a moving tale of loneliness, regret, acceptance, and forgiveness. VERDICT Fans of LaCour's previous novels will not be disappointed by this hauntingly beautiful tale; the audiobook is a masterful performance of an artistically prolific work. LaCour's latest novel is a cathartic masterpiece and will evoke strong emotions in listeners of this audiobook.-Erica Coonelly, Monroe Township M.S., NJ
  
  Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
- BookPage
  
  Mila has spent the past four years in the foster care system. Now that she’s turning 18, she can’t be placed with another foster family, so she’s stunned and humbled to receive a placement as an intern with a couple named Julia and Terry, who have raised dozens of children on their idyllic farm tucked between the mountains and the sea. Alongside two other interns, Mila will tutor the younger children and contribute to the daily workings of farm life, tending the crops, learning about flowers and taking harvests to the nearby farmers market. Mila quickly becomes close to her student, 9-year-old Lee, beneath whose quiet demeanor lies a traumatic history. The two also bond over their shared distrust of the ghostly figures who seem to haunt the farm at night. The farm’s other residents seem to relish their mysterious presence, but Mila and Lee aren’t ready to welcome them in. Even as Mila settles into her new life, she worries that she doesn’t really belong on the farm. She becomes increasingly unsettled when disturbing tokens from her old life begin to show up on the doorstep of her cabin. Watch Over Me is an unusual ghost story in which the ghosts are both metaphors and characters in their own right. Printz Medalist Nina LaCour (We Are Okay) effectively blends contemporary perspectives on psychological themes, including abuse, childhood trauma, guilt and grief, with a setting and a narrative that seem to exist somehow outside of time. As the story opens, Mila is at the crossroads between childhood and adulthood. Her regrets over events in her youth and her longing to have had a more secure childhood like those Julia and Terry’s adoptees enjoy is poignant and palpable. Simultaneously, however, as her deepening relationship with Lee causes her to want to be the best teacher she can, Mila begins to craft a vision of her future that wouldn’t have been possible without the farm. Richly atmospheric and both haunting and hopeful, Watch Over Me is a rewarding novel about a young woman on the brink of a new life. ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Go behind the scenes of Watch Over Me with author Nina LaCour.