Jane in bloom

Jane has spent her whole life overshadowed by her older sister, Lizzie, who draws every eye wherever she goes. Jane sees herself as dull and unremarkable. When Jane turns twelve, Lizzie begins a steep slide into a dangerous eating disorder, and Jane realizes that losing her sister would hurt far more than the years of being ignored ever did.

As the family falls apart around her, Jane starts taking photographs and looking at the world through her lens. The camera teaches her to see her household, her hurt, and herself in a new way, and to accept that people, like flowers, bloom at their own pace.

The novel is told in spare, emotionally raw prose. It is a story about a young girl's grief, the fragility of family, and the slow work of finding one's own worth.