Saved! meets Tim Federle with just a dash of A.S. King in this hilarious and poignant debut about a teen stuck at Jesus camp.
Itâs bad enough that Nickâs sister is dead, and, in some bizarre attempt to force him to confront his grief, his parents are shipping him off to Jesus camp. But heâs also being followed around by Jack Kerouac, whoâs incredibly annoying for a genius.
If arguing with a dead beat poet doesnât qualify him for antipsychotics already, Nickâs pretty sure Eden Springs is going to drive him insane. The campers ride donkeys into the desert, snap selfies with counselors dressed as disciples, and replace song lyrics with Bible verses. And somehow, only Nick seems to find this strange.
Worst of all is the PC Box, into which the campers gleefully place daily prayers and confessions. With Jack nagging him to do it, Nick scribbles down his darkest secretâabout his sisterâs deathâand drops it in the box.
But then the box is stolen, with Nickâs secret inside of it. And when campersâ confessions start appearing around the camp, Nick is desperate to get the box backâbefore the world learns the truth about what he did. The truth he canât even face himself.
Laugh-out-loud funny, surreal, and insightful, this is an unforgettable novel about the strangeness of life, death, and griefâand the even stranger things people do to cope.