Harley's Ninth

Sixteen-year-old Harley Columba knows that October 9th won’t be an ordinary day. At 8:00 a.m. she stands on the pier and gazes at the Statue of Liberty, framed by the morning sun and the fading moon. This is the day her first art exhibit opens in a gallery in New York City. The day Harley and her friends will visit the Broadway set designed by her newfound father, the famous Sean Shanahan. The day she returns to her hometown, Lenape Lakes, New Jersey, in stifling suburbia—with Sean, who hasn’t been back for 14 years.

The fact that it’s the ninth also means that she’s five days late. She and Evan were careless that one time, and she could be about to make a mess of her life. October 9th—Harley’s ninth—promises to be a monumental day as Harley reexamines herself as an artist, a girlfriend, a daughter, and a person.