Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Categories
Children’s, Teenage & Educational

GOODBYE DAYS

Jeff Zentner

Fans of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and Looking for Alaska will love this heartbreaking and at times humorous look into one teen’s life after the death of his best friends.

Carver Briggs never thought a simple text would cause a fatal crash, killing his three best friends, Mars, Eli, and Blake. But now Carver can’t stop blaming himself for the accident and even worse, a powerful judge is pressuring the district attorney to open up a criminal investigation. Luckily, Carver has some unexpected allies: Eli’s girlfriend, the only person to stand by him at school; Dr. Mendez, his new therapist; and Blake’s grandmother, who asks Carver to spend a “goodbye day” together to share their memories and say a proper farewell. Soon the other families are asking for their own goodbye day with Carver—but he’s unsure of their motives. Will they all be able to make peace with their losses, or will these Goodbye Days bring Carver one step closer to a complete breakdown or—even worse—prison? Jeff Zentner’s debut novel is The Serpent King. In addition to writing and recording his own music, Zentner works with young musicians at Tennessee Teen Rock Camp, which inspired him to write a novel for young adults. He lives in Nashville with his wife and son.

Available products
Book Published 2017-03-07 by Crown Books for Young Readers

Comments

Zentner skillfully … depicts his protagonist’s inner turmoil and the beginnings of his recovery in an organic, frequently raw narrative.

Canada: Tundra ; Brazil: Companhia ; UK: Andersen Press ; Spanish: Penguin Random House ; Poland: Jaguar ; Israel: Armchair Books ; France: Pocket ; Turkey: Ithaki

[M]asterful.

[A] gorgeous, devastating YA novel, Jeff Zentner (The Serpent King) explores the tormented inner life of a teenager in crisis…exquisite and tragic.

Zentner is yanking heartstrings here in this painful but compelling narrative…the kind of intelligent, intense, and life-affirming tale that will resonate with teens seeking depth and honesty…Hand this to readers looking to explore the somber and complex realities of life, especially responsibility, fractured relationships, and the butterfly effect of consequences.

One of the most stunningly heartfelt, lump-in-your-throat novels I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. Hold onto your heart: this book will wreck you, fix you, and most definitely change you.

Written in his lyrical and clear-eyed style, Jeff Zentner's GOODBYE DAYS is a gorgeous, heartbreaking, and ultimately life-affirming meditation on grief and forgiveness.

‘Serpent King’ author Jeff Zentner on quitting music and finding ‘the best kind of fame’. Read more...

Jeff Zentner, you perfectly fill the John?Green?sized hole in our heart.

Tender, honest, moving, and lyrical. His characters live and breathe. Ahh, lucky me. Lucky us. Zentner is the real thing.

Racial tensions, spoiled reputations, and broken homes all play roles in an often raw meditation on grief and the futility of entertaining what-ifs when faced with awful, irreversible events.

Zentner does an excellent job in creating empathetic characters, especially his protagonist Carver, a budding writer whose first-person account of his plight is artful evidence of his talent…an absorbing effort with emotional and psychological integrity.

[A] novel full of wisdom…[a] fine cautionary tale and journey toward wisdom, poignant and realistic.

Evocative, heartbreaking, and beautifully written.