Such Great Heights: Rajani LaRocca

Such Great Heights Rajani LaRocca Hardcover YOUNG ADULT FICTION/Social Themes / Depression * In Newbery Honor winner Rajani LaRocca’s YA debut, a contemporary reimagining of Sita’s story from the Ramayana, a girl facing false accusations attempts to answer the question: Does the truth matter if no one believes it?_ When Siya Janardhan was just ten years old, her mother died in a car accident. She misses her mother every day. Part of the reason Siya joined her school’s mock trial team was to honor the memory of her mother, who was a lawyer. It doesn’t hurt that golden boy Raj Raghavan is co-captain. When Raj takes an interest in Siya, she can hardly believe it—he’s a gorgeous junior soccer player whose mom is a senator. Before long, they’re a couple.Things seem perfect until a team bonding all-nighter when Siya gets locked in a room with Raven Lockhart until dawn. Raven has always operated on the margins—unlike Raj, he doesn’t care about keeping up appearances or following the rules. Even though Siya swears that nothing happened between them, she doesn’t feel like Raj believes her.At the same time, the details of the mock trial case are hitting uncomfortably close to home for Siya. The case concerns a young lawyer and mother who was killed in a car accident in similar circumstances as Siya’s mom. The question is whether the woman committed suicide, knowingly crashing her car. Seeds of doubt are planted in Siya’s mind: What if it wasn’t an accident, and her mother really took her own life?Though Siya has put her faith in honesty, she’s left grappling with one huge question: Can learning the truth truly set her free?