Pulsing with fierce emotion and raw social realism, this Oprah Book Club selection will capture your interest as it tears at your heart. The novel offers a stirring story, exquisitely told, of a girl's coming of age alone in a poisonous world. The only child of a brilliant, beautiful poet, Astrid has had anything but a conventional childhood. But the summer she is 12, any sense of security Astrid has ever known is blown away in the scorching Santa Ana winds when her mother is sentenced to life in prison for murdering her lover. Sharpened by harsh foster home environments, Astrid remakes herself as a survivor, and ultimately, an artist. With White Oleander, debut novelist Janet Fitch paints a compelling portrait of the artist as a young woman. Narrator Alyssa Bresnahan breathes vibrant life into Astrid and her search for herself amid the ruins of the past and nightmares of the present. With Bresnahan's elegant, expressive narration you will experience the novel's full intensity as you savor its sumptuous language.