A review by lemanley
Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands by Chris Bohjalian

4.0

Another novel from one of my favorite authors. This story takes the reader to the Northeast Kingdom in Vermont, then to Burlington before returning to the Northeast Kingdom. Emily Shepard becomes a homeless teen after a nuclear plant experienced a cataclysmic meltdown, and both of Emily’s parents were killed. Emily takes off on her own for Burlington, where she survives by stealing, sleeping on the floor of a drug dealer’s apartment, living in an igloo she puts together with frozen bags leaf bags. Emily befriends a young homeless boy named Cameron, she protects him with a ferocity she didn’t know she had. But she still can’t outrun her past, can’t escape her grief, and can’t hide forever. She comes up with the only plan that she can.