All We Know of Love, Nora Raleigh Baskin

Baskin, Nora Raleigh (2008).
All We Know of Love
London: Walker Book Ltd
978-1406315516

Natalie, almost sixteen, sneaks away form her Connecticut home and takes a bus to Florida, looking for a mother who abandoned her and her father when she was ten years old.
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Over four years ago, Natalie Gordon’s mother walked out mid-sentence and never returned. Three days ago, sixteen-year-old Natalie first began to wonder what her mother left unsaid. Natalie lies to her father, telling him she is going on a ski trip to Vermont. Instead, she purchases a bus ticket from Connecticut to Florida in the hopes of finding her mother; she wants to learn what her mother thought was so important about love. During her road trip, Natalie meets a variety of people who share their stories and experiences with love. In addition to finding her mother, Natalie struggles to resolve her obsessive and tumultuous relationship with her boyfriend, Adam, who doesn’t treat Natalie very well. To compound her struggle, Natalie may be pregnant. Anyone who has been infatuated or in love will empathize with Natalie’s obsessive need to check her cell phone for any voicemails from Adam. Ultimately, Natalie learns that she can shed the image of the unloved, abandoned girl. This coming-of-age story examines the meaning of love and the importance of giving love without giving oneself away. Assorted verses about love head each chapter; Baskin takes a well-known plot and constructs it so that it proves engaging—particularly to teen readers who have tried and/or may be trying to come to terms with their own understanding of love.