• Age: 14 to 18
• Grade: 9 to 12

George Warren (real name: Frances, but nobody calls her that) is well aware that she’s sometimes too tough for her own good. She didn’t mean to make the hot new guy cry—twice. And maybe she shouldn’t have hit the school’s mean girl in the face. George’s loyalty and impulsiveness are what her friends love about her—they know she’s got their backs.

On the cusp of her senior year, though, everything starts to change: a fight with her best friend puts an irreparable rift in George's social circle, George’s father can no longer work as a police officer, and the family’s financial problems threaten her dream of going away for college. The year is turning out nothing like what George envisioned, but unfortunately, life’s a bad writer.

Then George meets Francis, an older guy who shares her name and her talent for sarcastic banter. In him, she—the queen of catch-and-release—has finally found someone she wants to hold on to, when lately it seems like she’s only been pushing people away. And with him, she falls hard and recklessly in love in ways she never thought herself capable. In short, it’s the year George nearly loses everything, including herself, in secret and utterly alone.

With brilliant humor and heartbreaking truth, award-winning author Hadley Dyer tells a story of finding love—and the road back from unthinkable loss.

HADLEY DYER was born in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia,and now lives in Toronto. She has been active in the children’s book scene formany years as a reviewer, publicist, editor and librarian for the CanadianChildren’s Book Centre. She is currently the children’s editor at JamesLorimer & Co., and writes for such magazines as Canadian Family, OWLand Toronto Life

Hadley Dyer's profile page

• Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour
• OLA Best Bets

“Brave and funny and tender.” — Kit Pearson, author of A Day of Signs and Wonders

“Honest and real and breathing.” — Teresa Toten, author of Beware That Girl

“A sad, funny, heartbreaking, and beautiful book.” — Margo Rabb, author of Kissing in America

“This is a gorgeous read, so wonder-full of surprises.” — Tim Wynne-Jones, author of The Emperor of Any Place

“A refreshing and engrossing tale . . . sure to be a page-turner for teens.” — Susin Nielsen, author of We Are All Made of Molecules

“Empathetic, comforting and wise . . . Poetic realism at its finest.” — The Globe and Mail

“Dyer depicts first passion and love with a precise, delicate hand; at the same time, her narrator George is irreverent, ironic and wonderfully earthy . . . Robust in wisdom and sparkling in word play, this is a thoroughly satisfying read.” — Toronto Star

“With unpredictable plot twists and an entertaining streak of sarcasm, Dyer explores the blurred lines between right and wrong and the risks and dangers of an all-encompassing love.” — Booklist

“A deeply felt romance constructed with equal respect to both sides, this love story is bittersweet like a Joseph Monninger novel, and equally hard to forget.” — School Library Journal

“Evocative and literary.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Dyer’s prose captures the adolescent tone effortlessly . . . Here So Far Away touches a dark place not often plumbed in YA literature, and we see the painful process of maturity for the difficult journey it can be.” — CM Magazine

“Dyer goes for the jugular and in the end creates a heartbreaking novel dealing with secrets, loss and the mess that arises from not living truthfully.” — Atlantic Books Today