Through it all, one generation reminds another that life goes on.

And a young journalist who makes his name reporting tragedy. Against this backdrop of actual events that Blume experienced in the early 1950s, when airline travel was new and exciting and everyone dreamed of going somewhere, she paints a vivid portrait of a particular time and place-Nat King Cole singing 'Unforgettable,' Elizabeth Taylor haircuts, young (and not-so-young) love, explosive friendships, A-bomb hysteria, rumors of Communist threat. Thirty-five years earlier, when Miri was fifteen, and in love for the first time, a succession of airplanes fell from the sky, leaving a community reeling. In 1987, Miri Ammerman returns to her hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey, to attend a commemoration of the worst year of her life. Miri struggles with an initial contact from a father she's never known, a boyfriend who will deceive her, her best friend Natalie's mental illness and her mother's daring grasp at happiness.In her highly anticipated new novel, Judy Blume, the New York Times # 1 best-selling author of Summer Sisters and of young adult classics such as Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, creates a richly textured and moving story of three generations of families, friends and strangers, whose lives are profoundly changed by unexpected events. They all must learn to deal with the tragedies that crash through their lives - illness, betrayal, heartbreak and divorce - as well as the airline disasters. So many characters carrying so many secrets. Just as dramatic as the devastation and panic caused by the crashes are Blume's ruminations on the mysteries of the human heart. But how could Communists cause three planes to crash in a row?'

Could it be caused by Communists? Some say so.

'Some believe it is creatures from outer space, Martians in flying saucers intercepting and causing planes to crash. Miri witnesses two of the crashes and is shaken so much by the experiences that she writes an essay compiling all the reasons the accidents couldn't have been coincidence. And so unimaginable are the consecutive accidents that Elizabeth's residents can neither come to terms with what has happened nor heal and move on.

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