Just One Year
In Just One Day (2013), readers followed Allyson as she struggled to understand what happened to Willem after one magical day and night in Paris—before he seemingly up and left. Now it’s Willem’s turn to relive that day, and search for the girl he called “Lulu.” Beginning where the previous novel left off, Willem is aimless, restless, and curious about the intersection “where love meets luck, where fate meets will.” With few details about Lulu to go on, he spends a year following dead-end trails, from Mexico to India, seeking the girl with the dark hair that he met one day by accident. This isn’t so much about the romance between Willem and Lulu—although the essence of it permeates every page—as it is about how Willem’s search leads him to find anchors in his own life. Travel is revelatory for Willem, as is Shakespearean acting and mulling over big universe questions like chance versus choice; at each stop, Forman gracefully peels back mysterious Willem’s layers. As satisfying as both of these books are, readers are going to wish for a third. Grades 9-12. --Ann Kelley