The People We Keep follows 16-year-old April Sawicki. Living alone in a motorhome technically owned by her deadbeat dad, her mother existing only in memories from before she ran off, April has only her own grit and willingness to break laws in order to survive. In order to live, she has her music, her one true link to something real and lasting. After a vicious fight with her father, April decides to set off on her own in search of a place and people who could actually feel like home.

This is a beautiful book, and at times it’s very difficult to read. April is the kind of damaged that can’t be fixed overnight. Beneath her desire to find something lasting is a fear of being abandoned. The result is that she doesn’t know how to stay anywhere. She doesn’t know how to keep anyone because she doesn’t believe she’s worthy of being kept. It would be easy to look at April and judge her, but we are talking about a child. The need for survival makes selfish beasts of us all whether we want such a life or not. April is a scared child just looking for a lifeline. She has to lie, steal, and run in order to protect herself. Or so she thinks, because it’s the only thing she’s ever known. People, in her experience, only ever want from you what you can give to them. There’s never anything given in return. It’s beautiful to watch April encounter people along the way who show her that love and trust are possible. Her journey to discovering she actually deserves love and trust is a frustrating but authentically drawn.

I do love that Larkin didn’t really make this a romance. There are elements of that, but ultimately each instance takes a backseat to the more lasting and more powerful theme of friendship. And with every relationship April finds herself in, whether friend or lover, April discovers her own power to wound or heal. This is a simple story about complicated aspects of life, and it’s both beautiful and heartbreaking.

Published August 3, 2021 by Simon and Schuster Audio. ISBN 9781797124360. Runtime 11 hrs, 8 mins. Narrated by Julia Whelan.