Sixteen-year-old Summer Field is Old Town’s fascinating new sole reader. She can tell how many steps one has left to take in life. It’s true. Her Gift is scientifically proven. They all are bound by the lines that never lie. None more so than Summer’s best friend, Bryony.
“What do you mean—five?”
Bryony, who’s only ever dreamed of running the Boston marathon, is shocked to learn she has only five steps to go. An instant slave to the fortune teller’s shack on the side of the road, Bryony hopes for a miracle while Summer does her very best to beat the lines. Because you can’t finish a marathon in five steps. With five steps, the only thing you finish is life.
Such is the story of two friends, a rapacious fortune-teller, a boy, and an entire cast of young people counting their steps (most of them hoping, someday, to change their steps). This sometimes laughable, always heartfelt story will leave even the most cynical step-taker believing in miracles.
