Sisters Alone

Rama and Leena are sisters who handle grief in opposite ways. Rama burns hot. She is fierce and quick to anger, and she is working hard to keep her family together while fighting off the intrusive thoughts that crowd her mind. Leena is cold and quiet. The color has drained out of the world for her, and she privately believes she is to blame for their mother's death.

Then their father has to leave for work, and a blizzard closes in on the rural home where the two girls are staying. The power goes out. The food runs low and the house offers little protection from the storm. There is nobody to turn to but each other, and the sisters have to find out whether they can lean on one another when they are both barely holding together.

Safadi tells the story in verse. It follows two very different girls through a frightening few days and shows how sisters can survive together and keep going when everything around them seems to be failing. The author also wrote Kareem Between, which won the National Book Award.