This Place Is Still Beautiful

More about the book

The Flanagan sisters, seventeen-year-old Annalie and nineteen-year-old Margaret, are strikingly different. Annalie is bubbly and self-conscious, while Margaret is sharp and assertive. Their mother, a Chinese immigrant, raised them alone in a predominantly white Midwestern town after their father abandoned them. When their home is vandalized with a racial slur, Margaret rushes back from her summer internship in New York, expecting outrage, but finds her sister and mother prefer to move on. Margaret’s investigation into the incident makes the community uncomfortable, while Annalie, eager for a summer of possibilities, resents her sister's presence and the negative attention it brings. Tensions rise as Margaret is frustrated by Annalie's passive acceptance of the situation. The summer worsens for Margaret when she unexpectedly encounters her first love, Rajiv Agarwal. As the sisters navigate their complicated relationship, an explosive secret threatens to tear them apart. This story explores themes of identity, sisterhood, and the deep connections to hometowns that shape who we are, even as we strive to outgrow them.