Just Until

Hannah must choose the impossible--put her nephews into foster care so she can stay true to her dream, or take them on and lose everything she’s worked so hard to achieve.

17-year-old Hannah Lynn has just one goal: to get out of Evans Beach, Maine. It’s where she lost her mother to cancer. Where her estranged sister, Pauline, fell apart before moving out. Where her father, Larry, holds court as a local legend who once played twelve games for the Red Sox. Hannah has never fit in, but that doesn’t matter now that she is finally on the cusp of escape. All she needs is a little help from her chemistry tutor, Richard, a fellow junior who she finds equal parts compelling and infuriating.

Then, one winter night, Hannah’s life is turned upside down. Pauline’s two sons are taken by the state, leaving Hannah and Larry the only people standing between the boys and the child welfare system. Her father promises that it will only be for a little while, just until Pauline gets back on her feet, but Hannah knows nothing is that simple when it comes to her troubled older sister.

But Hannah’s life--and future--is upended after they take the boys in and her father’s health unexpectedly declines. Hannah might be a kid herself, but as her struggling nephews’ surrogate mother, she faces a soberingly adult decision: is she willing to sacrifice everything to raise them alone? Or would she be giving up everything to leave them behind?

Drawing on his clinical psychology background, Moldover challenges readers to face some of life’s most difficult questions through the eyes of an unforgettably complex heroine. Unflinching yet ultimately hopeful, Just Until is a heart-wrenching tale of the weight some teenagers carry when no one else can do it for them--one that will linger with readers long after the final page.

Joseph Moldover is the author of Every Moment After, a 2019 Massachusetts Center for the Book ＂Must Read.＂ His short fiction has appeared in Stonecoast Review, MonkeyBicycle, One Teen Story, Typehouse, The MacGuffin, and elsewhere. He works as a clinical psychologist in Massachusetts, where he lives with his family. You can visit him at josephmoldover.com.