YA book I read in the late 80s, set in Boston, about a girl whose mom dies and goes to live with her dad her step mom introduces her to running and maybe she meets an opera singer?

[Sage]

Hi everyone! Thanks for your help!

I read this book in the 80s as a middle schooler and think I remember a lot. A girl’s mom dies and she has to go live with her dad and stepmom. She is, understandably very depressed and in an attempt to get her out of her funk, her step mom takes her to a shoe store and gets her running shoes. She becomes and avid runner and—this is murky—meets an boy who also happens to be an opera singer. She works out her grief while running.

I am pretty sure the cover has a pink or lavender border and contains a picture of a white girl in a Boston Red Sox hat sitting on park bench.

Anyone know what it is?

Sage

[Tab]

Do you remember how old the girl was?
Part of a series?
Did the girl have any siblings, friends, pets, classmates?
What city did she live in before moving in with her dad?

[Sage]

Oh boy. These are good questions. She did not have siblings—or at least not that she lived with. I’m not sure where she lived before she moved. She was in high school, maybe even a senior?

[Rainbowheart]

Footfalls and Running Before the Wind kinda sound a little similar, but they're about sick/dying dads, not moms.

When in the '80s did you read it? Could it have been as late as '89?

[Sage]

It could be as late as 89—trying to remember what grade I was in. And as I’m thinking about it, I wonder if mom didn’t die but was being reckless? And lost custody? Ugh. So sorry.

[Rainbowheart]

A Formal Feeling?

I don't see a cover matching what you described, but the book jacket says the MC "tries to lose herself in obsessive cross-country running."

[Sage]

Oh man! That’s so close. But I don’t think that’s it…I don’t think there was boarding school. I can’t thank you enough fir being on the hunt!

[Rainbowheart]

No prob! I hope we can track this one down for you.

Did the girl and the opera-singing boy have a romance?

[Sage]

Yes! It was sweet. Also maybe he was a little older?

[Rainbowheart]

Got it!

Life Without Friends



Well, actually Minnikin got it. It came up as a solution on another thread.

[Kris]

Amazon's "Look Inside" preview of Life Without Friends by Ellen Emerson White - Rainbowheart's suggestion:

https://www.amazon.com/WITHOUT-FRIEND... There are different cover images.

This book was suggested by Minnikin in this thread:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...