To my family: my sisters, Lauren and Kelcie, best friends and confidantes, thanks for being my heart, and the heart of Beatrice and Hero’s relationship; my knight-in-law, Blair, I’m so glad you’re part of our family and I’m sorry you’re always fixing my problems; my brother, Deven, whose face is loved by my face, and Kaela, sister-in-training; my dad, for never telling me this was a waste of time; my mom, for her love; and my stepdad, Bill, thanks for making me hot-dog grilled cheese sandwiches while I wrote the first draft and for always asking how it was coming along; my cousin, Ben, unanticipated book buddy and support; and finally, my grandma. You have believed in me more than I believe in myself. Thank you, and I love you. And to my nephews, Kayson and Kai, who are too young to read this yet, you are the stars in my sky—and look! Your names are in a book!
To my library family at the Day-Riverside branch, you are book warriors, and I love you guys, truly. Thanks for everything.
Last but not least, thank you to the misfit crew at Hey Nonny Nonny. I know you’re not real, but when I look back at this book, I see my heart splintered into six characters, chasing after a dream that matters more than anything. Thanks for seeing me through to the end.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MCKELLE GEORGE hated reading Shakespeare in high school. But then she spent a summer abroad seeing productions at Stratford-upon-Avon and the Globe in London. She fell in love with all the different ways the same play could be interpreted. She now lives in Salt Lake City, where she mentors young writers with Salt Lake Teens Write and works as an editor and reference librarian. This is her first novel.
www.mckellegeorge.com
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BOOKS BY MCKELLE GEORGE
Speak Easy, Speak Love
CREDITS
Cover art © 2017 by Chellie Carroll
Cover design by Sylvie Le Floc’h
COPYRIGHT
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used to advance the fictional narrative. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
SPEAK EASY, SPEAK LOVE. Copyright © 2017 by McKelle George. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
EPub Edition © August 2017 ISBN 9780062560940
ISBN 978-0-06-256092-6 (trade ed.)
17 18 19 20 21 PC/LSCH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
Greenwillow Books
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