This compelling novel is written as if it were a piece of performance art created by 17-year-old Orphea, who performs it as a monologue in a Queens, New York, club. While Orphea speaks, 14-year-old Ray paints on the backdrop behind her—art seen only by the audience. Life has not been easy for Orphea. Both of her parents died when she was young, and her older brother, Rupert, who became her guardian, is strict, narrow minded, and abusive. There are two things that have been a constant for her, however: her love of poetry and her love for Lissa. How she found and lost Lissa and then found herself through her art is the story she tells the community of kindred spirits who manage and frequent the club and who have helped her find her voice. (Ages 14–17)