Name: The Carnival at Bray
ISBN: 9780606382243

Jessie Ann Foley

Uprooted from Chicago to rural Ireland, Maggie searches for her place in the country she now calls home before enduring a tragedy that sends her on a pilgrimmage to fulfill her uncle's request.

The Carnival at Bray

Jessie Foley

It's 1993, and Generation X pulses to the beat of Kurt Cobain and the grunge movement. Sixteen-year-old Maggie Lynch is uprooted from big-city Chicago to a windswept town on the Irish Sea. Surviving on care packages of Spin magazine and Twizzlers from her rocker uncle Kevin, she wonders if she'll ever find her place in this new world. When first love and sudden death simultaneously strike, a naive but determined Maggie embarks on a forbidden pilgrimage that will take her to a seedy part of Dublin and on to a life- altering night in Rome to fulfill a dying wish. Through it all, Maggie discovers an untapped inner strength to do the most difficult but rewarding thing of all, live. The Carnival at Bray is an evocative ode to the Smells Like Teen Spirit Generation and a heartfelt exploration of tragedy, first love, and the transformative power of music. The book won the 2014 Helen Sheehan YA Book Prize.

Skye

The Carnival at Bray made me reminisce about the music, places, people, and events that impacted my life as a teenage and still influence my life today. It's a reminder of the weight and value that early-life experiences have on your identity! 

I fell in love with the characters and loved how raw and real they were. This novel didn't shy away from tragedy, allowing me to put myself in the characters shoes instead of dreaming about fairytales. 

Also, as soon as I finished this, I blasted 90s music for hours!!

This was a quick read; I finished in in one sitting while on a road trip. I definitely recommend it to anyone, especially those who can pinpoint a specific person, band, book, etc. that still impacts them today!

The Carnival at Bray

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