The Girl He Used to Know by Tracey Garvis Graves

Now divorced and skittish, can Jonathan open his heart to Annika’s love again? Or will the mystery behind their breakup keep them apart? Telling the story primarily from Annika’s perspective, Graves ( On the Island, 2012, etc.) mirrors Annika’s own logical, concrete thought patterns with straightforward sentence structure and minimal description.

Over the course of their senior year, Jonathan and Annika’s romance built from tentative touches into a passionate affair that crashed shortly after Jonathan took a job in New York.

After she trounced him in their first game, Jonathan was smitten by the beautiful yet terribly shy Annika. With the chess board in front of her, Annika could enter a space of clear rules and no confusing emotions, and it was at chess club that Annika and Jonathan first met. It was Janice who took Annika to her first chess club meeting, a place that became sacred to Annika. Luckily, just as she was about to throw in the towel and head back home, her compassionate roommate, Janice, took Annika under her wing, helping her to better read and respond to social cues.

Yet bumping into Jonathan Hoffman, her college sweetheart, in the frozen food section of their local grocery store sparks hope for something more.įollowing a vicious bullying incident in seventh grade, Annika had been home-schooled, so college life challenged her. Living alone for the last 10 years has pushed Annika Rose, a woman on the autism spectrum, toward independence.

The Girl He Used to Know by Tracey Garvis Graves