Until now, high school junior, John Keats, has only tiptoed near the edges of the vortex that is schoolmate and literary prodigy, Gordon Byron. That is, until their mutual friend, Shelly, drowns in a sailing accident.
After stealing Shelly's ashes from her wake at Trinity Catholic High School, the boys set a course for the small Lake Erie island where Shelly's body had washed ashore and to where she wished to be returned. It would be one last "so Shelly" romantic quest. At least that's what they think. As they navigate around the obstacles and resist temptations during their odyssey, Keats and Gordon glue together the shattered pieces of Shelly's and their own pasts while attempting to make sense of her tragic and premature end.
***
I love the cleverness of how all the main characters mentioned are named after a poets.
And my gawd, I already love this book. I stated googling Percy Shelley out of pure curiosity, and got sucked into reading up about him.
From wikipedia:
On 8 July 1822, less than a month before his 30th birthday, Shelley drowned in a sudden storm while sailing back from Livorno to Lerici in his schooner, Don Juan.
So I'm guessing book is at least loosely based on Shelley-Byron-Keat's real lives.
I AM SO STOKED.
Mostly because:
1. I love poetry
2. This book seems like a modern, fictionalized version of the poet's lives.
3. It seems like a fresh idea in YA. And it's already exudes cleverness from just a short blurb--I looove clever things.
At first I thought this book might be cool, but the more I read up on it, the more excited I'm getting XD
To be published February 8th 2011
