To climb a tree, always think in threes and you’ll never fall.  Two feet, one hand. Two hands, one foot,  Cora’s father told her when she was a little girl.

Now Cora is in middle school, her father is gone, her family is homeless, and Cora has to look after her younger sister, Adare, who needs a lot of looking after. When their room at the shelter is ransacked, Cora’s mother brings them to an old friend’s apartment, and Cora hopes this will be a place she can finally call home. When doubt seeps in, Cora makes an escape of her own and discovers something that will change how she sees her family and her place within it.

The beautiful debut by Melissa Sarno, the author of A Swirl of Ocean, will take root in your heart and blossom long after you’ve turned the last page.