Introduction

The lives of two disparate women—a single mother working hard to make ends meet and a young figure skater at the top of her game—entwine in an unforgettable novel of warmth, depth, and wisdom.

Izzy and her daughter Quinn have been on the move for all of Quinn’s nine years. Izzy works the fields as a fruit picker, following the produce north and south through the growing season. When they reach a struggling pear orchard in the Sacramento River Delta, Izzy intends it to be just another way station in their nomadic lives. But the orchard and its kindly owners capture Quinn’s heart, and Izzy briefly forgets that she’s running from a past that still haunts her—until a strange incident brings national media attention to the Delta.

Seemingly a world away, Karen is a rising young star in figure skating with an edgy, daring new partner. Nathan is everything her old teammate wasn’t: sexy, dangerous, and extremely headstrong. As Karen nears her eighteenth birthday, the partners find themselves on the world stage—and the simmering intensity between them finally erupts.

As each woman struggles with a sudden thrust into the spotlight, their narratives become more intertwined—until Izzy’s past and Karen’s future finally collide.

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Excerpt

A sample chapter from Delta Girls, by Gayle Brandeis


Lifts were her favorite.
To the average viewer on bleachers in the ice arena, or on a couch watching skaters on tv, it probably looked as if the guy was doing all the work, as if all the girl had to do was look pretty and let her partner bear her up to heaven. But a partner couldn’t lift a girl who wasn’t lifting herself, too. When she was over her partner's head, his hand pressed into her ribs or stomach or the side of her thigh, she had to harden herself against his palm, his thumb, lift herself away from it. Otherwise she would end up with hand-shaped bruises on her skin, maybe a cracked rib. And that's if she didn't fall. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

From the Author:

--Is Izzy a good mother to Quinn? What missteps does she take? How do Deena and Izzy differ as mothers? How are they alike?

-- Consider this line from page 8: “Better to pluck it when it's green, store it someplace cold, let it forget where it came from.” Izzy is talking about more than pears here. Do you agree with her? Has trying to forget her past helped or hindered Izzy? Quinn?

--Why is Nathan so jealous of Karen’s friendship with Isabelle? Her innocent interactions with Lance Finkel? Do you think it’s possible for a young person with serious goals—in dance, skating, music, acting, sports—to lead a somewhat normal life with fun and friends?

--Abcde is able to provide something for Quinn that Izzy is not. What is it, and why can’t Izzy fulfill this role? What does Abcde give Izzy? What do Viera Pears and the community of Comice offer Izzy and Quinn?

SPOILER ALERT QUESTIONS (don’t read these until you read the book):


--Before you realized Izzy and Karen were the same person, how did you think they might be connected? At what point did you realize that Izzy was an older version of Karen? Which clues tipped you off? Were you surprised?

--When Karen becomes Izzy, she feels like a different person. Do you ever feel like someone else entirely when you look back at your childhood self, your teenaged self, your young adult self? What about you changed, and what events in your life fueled those changes?

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Weblinks

»	Publisher's Book Info
»	Author Gayle Brandeis' web site

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