Brooklyn author to discuss young adult debut

Brooklyn BookBeat: Launch Event Slated for Oct. 18 in Cobble Hill

October 5, 2016 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Brooklyn-based author Lisa Davis. Photo by Dave Bigler

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In her 2014 Modern Love essay for the New York Times, journalist and author Lisa Selin Davis shared the story of her wayward teenage years, time spent working at a youth conversation corps in a New York State Park, and…what Lou Reed taught her about love. His song “I’ll Be Your Mirror” transformed Davis, opening her eyes to the possibility of love — even if she couldn’t see it for herself at the time.

And now, in her Young Adult debut “Lost Stars” (HMH Books for Young Readers; Oct. 4), Davis delivers a heartbreaking and hopeful novel inspired by that piece — and her troubled youth — that will speak to fans of Rainbow Rowell, Stephen Chbosky, Gayle Forman, Jennifer Niven and Jenny Han. Davis will visit Cobble Hill’s BookCourt on Oct. 18 to discuss her book (7 p.m., 163 Court St.).

It’s 1980-something in upstate New York. Sixteen-year-old Carrie is reeling. Her older sister Ginny has died in a tragic accident and her mother has abandoned her, her younger sister Rosie, and her distraught father. Before Ginny died, Carrie knew her place in the world: she was a science nerd, obsessively tracking her beloved Vira comet. But now that Ginny is gone, Carrie is lost, struggling to find her place in the universe.

Empty, angry and burdened by the truth of what happened the night of her sister’s death, Carrie gravitates towards Ginny’s friends, a close-knit group of seniors who skip school, obsess over bands, and party hard. Fed up with Carrie’s behavior, her father enrolls her in a summer work camp at a local state park. Although she won’t admit it, Carrie actually likes the days spent in nature and when she meets Dean, a kindred spirit and guy who likes the real Carrie, she starts to get to the heart of who she is and who she wants to be.

Rich with references to the music and pop culture of the 1980s, astronomy and nature, “Lost Stars” is an honest portrait of firsts — first loss, first jobs, and first love — that encapsulates teenage-life and all its awkward longing, heady passion and introspective questioning.

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Lisa Selin Davis is the author of the adult novel “Belly” and has written articles for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time magazine, and many other publications. Originally from Saratoga Springs, New York, she now lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two kids.