The Grief Keeper

Alexandra Villasante
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
May 27 2025
EAN: 9780525514046
ISBN: 052551404X 

After escaping a detention center at the U.S. border, seventeen-year-old Marisol agrees to participate in a medical experiment hoping to keep her and her younger sister, Gabi, from being deported to El Salvador.

Biographical Note:
Alexandra Villasante has always loved telling stories--though not always with words. She has a BFA in Painting and an MA in Combined Media (that's art school speak for making work out of anything). Born in New Jersey to immigrant parents, Alex has the privilegio of dreaming in both English and Spanish.

When she's not writing, painting or chasing chickens around the yard, Alex plans conferences and fundraisers for non-profits. She lives with her family in the semi-wilds of Pennsylvania. You can find Alexandra on twitter and Instagram at @magpiewrites or on her website, alexandravillasante.com.

Review Quotes:
Praise for The Grief Keeper
Summer 2019 Kids' Indie Next List Pick
Summer/Fall 2019 Indies Introduce Kids' Debuts List Pick
A 2020 Rainbow Book List Pick - Young Adult
A 2020 Lambda Award Winner - Young Adult
A 2022-2023 Land of Enchantment Book Award Nominee (NM)

" Hauntingly beautiful." -- School Library Journal

"Villasante writes of first love with an authentic voice, beautifully capturing its nervousness, excitement, and awe. . . A story worth reading." -- Booklist

"In her debut, Villasante captures the pressures of internalized racism in immigrants... Will grip readers and provoke empathy." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Villasante's novel is for the reader who wants to get down and dirty with the emotional landscape, who wants a romance that is hard-earned and sweetly won. The Grief Keeper...[creates] a realistic yet still hopeful world seen through the gaze of an intelligent, curious protagonist." --Shelf Awareness

"[An ] engrossing debut. . . Villasante builds her novel about undocumented immigrants into a suspenseful story with credible relationships, satisfying character development, and elements of science fiction." -- Publisher's Weekly

"Villasante tackles some interesting issues, especially about power and privilege, in this sci-fi touched tale of contemporary realism. . . the compelling issues and main character will keep readers absorbed and give them plenty to discuss." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"With both timeless poignancy and heartbreaking relevance, The Grief Keeper is a stunning exploration of how we love, how pain lives in us, and how we survive. Alexandra Villasante's gift for writing the deepest emotional truths resonates through every page." -- Anna-Marie McLemore, author of Wild Beauty and Blanca & Roja

Brief Description:
"Seventeen-year-old Marisol and her little sister Gabi are detainees of the United States Government. Fleeing the gang that killed her older brother in El Salvador and consumed by her guilt over his death, Marisol will do anything to keep Gabi safe--including consenting to an experimental procedure. For the chance to stay in the United States, Marisol becomes a grief keeper, taking the grief of strangers into her body, relieving them of their pain as she lives through it. Although Marisol agrees to risk her own health and mental well-being, she never imagined that one of the risks would be falling in love. Her shared connection with a troubled but beautiful teenage girl erupts into a powerful love that just might be enough to save each of them from their crushing grief."--Provided by publisher.

LAMBDA AWARD-WINNER. Now in paperback. A tender and timely tale that explores the heartbreak and consequences of when both love and human beings are branded illegal.