BEAUTIFUL AMERICANS | Book 1

A story of four American teens in Paris, and the scandal that leads one girl to disappear. This sparkling novel reveals exactly how it feels to be a teen in love, in angst, in a big, gorgeous, unfamiliar city. Fall in love with the elusive model-gorgeous PJ, on the run from a mysterious past. Or Olivia, a hardworking ballerina whose fall from grace (both literal and figurative) lands her in the arms of the wrong boy. Witness the melodrama of jaded but beautiful Alex, whose seductions will never fill the void left by her father. Finally, let fun-loving Zack warm your heart with his vulnerability and sweet Memphis accent. On their own for the first time, these kids go wild in Paris. But when PJ disappears, the others must face the lies they've told and the secrets they've kept in order to help find her.

Lucy Silag is the Book Country Community and Engagement Manager. She is also the author of the BEAUTIFUL AMERICANS novels for young adults (Razorbill/Penguin) and has written for publications including Salon, Allure, New York magazine, Real Simple Travel, The Iowa Review, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Globe and Mail in Canada, and the Independent on Sunday magazine in the UK. She is a graduate of the Women’s Studies program at UC Santa Cruz and holds an MFA in Fiction from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop.

Thanks for checking out this excerpt of my first YA novel, BEAUTIFUL AMERICANS, which was published by Razborbill/Penguin Young Reader's Group in January 2009. Since it's already been published, I can't change anything now, but I am always looking for feedback about my writing in general, since I'd very much like to publish another book, and at the very least, grow in my abilities as a writer.