“First Day” by LDS author Allyson B. Condie is the story of four people whose lives intersect, and we see how they impact each other.
Andrea is a college student at Cornell, believing herself the luckiest girl in the world to be dating a guy like Dave. He’s everything she could want. However, he doesn’t seem to want her. While she’s away at college, he starts dating a girl he knew in high school, and he breaks Andrea’s heart. She doesn’t know what to do after that. Hurt, alone, and angry, she withdraws from the social scene altogether.
Joel is trying to decide where to attend college, and has just about chosen California when he comes to tour Cornell, just to see. He wasn’t planning to stay, but he strongly feels that Cornell is the right choice, and he enrolls. However, the girl he planned to marry doesn’t want to move across the country for school, and he can’t see staying on the west coast, not when he feels so sure about Cornell. Their lives are calling them in two different directions, and they realize it’s time to make the split.
Cate is a high school student with her whole life in front of her, but it’s hard to know what choices to make. Hopefully, this year in Seminary she’ll get the answers. Maybe her two new Seminary teachers, Andrea and Joel, will provide the insight she needs.
Ethan is Andrea’s brother, serving a mission in Portugal. He feels like a fish out of water – he can’t get the language, he’s had trouble with his companions, and if it wasn’t for his testimony, who knows where he’d be.
This book is written in a more literary style than we’re used to seeing in the LDS market, and I appreciated that. I always enjoy it when an author is ready to break the mold and try something new. If you enjoy it too, you’ll like “First Day.” This book is a finalist for this year’s Whitney Award.
(This book was published in 2007 by Deseret Book.)
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