One Day You'll Go

Wildfire #13

by Sheila Schwartz

Kathy knew, with a certainty from deep within, that one day she would find Chris gone...

Chris just appears that summer, a dirty hitchhiker with no place to go, and Kathy's family takes him in.

During the golden days that follow, Kathy learns what love is. She and Chris take long walks in the evenings, share secrets, and always know what the other is thinking.

But Chris is a "drifter," and Kathy's afraid he'll leave as unexpectedly as he arrived.

Then comes the disaster that changes Kathy and Chris forever...

Genres: Young Adult

About the author

The late Sheila Schwartz is the author of the Etruscan novel Lies Will Take You Somewhere (2008). She has also authored Imagine a Great White Light, a short story collection (Pushcart Press, 1993). Her work has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Ploughshares, and Triquarterly, as well as in anthologies such as The O. Henry Prize Stories and The Pushcart Prize. She was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1993 and an Ohio Arts Council Grant in 2005.

Reviews

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading this again and wanted to write a quick review, I love this book, like all the Wildfire book it's pretty much a fast read, and quite a simple book but such a lovely one. It's everything I love about these 80s teen books, so wholesome, innocent and old fashioned.
The book is set in the country, around the growing love of Kathy and Chris and her fear that "one day he'll go" and they do meet in a peculiar way which I love, with him just showing up at her apple stall in rags after hitchhiking for days with his cracking sense of humour. I definitely enjoyed Chris the most in the book, found him very entertaining, Kathy and her lovely old fashioned family are great too, I miss the 80s when normal happy family were still promoted unlike today. Wouldn't it be great if things were still like how it was in this book.
I really liked the ending too which I won't spoil but it's a sweet short story that those who like 80s books should enjoy. Also reading this book really makes you crave apple deserts, luckily I just happened to have an apple danish while reading it so I survived lol.

Also the book cover is so pretty, another thing I desperately miss about the 20th century, how pretty all the book covers were! I feel everything just got ugly the moment we hit the 21st century and that includes book covers lol.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ha! Listening to a podcast with Gabrielle Moss about a book she has written about teen/pre-teen fiction in the 80’s. She mentioned the “Wildfire” books and I remembered that THIS was the VERY first “grown-up” book I read. I was 9. I was home from church camp and I was grounded because I shaved my legs after explicitly being told not to. No tv, no phone. It’s 1989, so clearly no internet. I have no idea where this book came from I only know that Kris and Cathy rocked my world and I knew that if reading could be THIS exciting in was IN! Thank you “One Day You’ll Go.” 😃 ♥️