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A Novel
by Allegra Goodman
What happens to a girl's sense of joy and belonging—to her belief in herself—as she becomes a woman? This unforgettable portrait of coming-of-age offers subtle yet powerful reflections on class, parenthood, addiction, lust, and the irrepressible power of dreams.
"There is a girl, and her name is Sam." So begins Allegra Goodman's moving and wise new novel.
Sam is seven years old and living in Beverly, Massachusetts. She adores her father, though he isn't around much. Her mother struggles to make ends meet, and never fails to remind Sam that if she studies hard and acts responsibly, adulthood will be easier—more secure and comfortable. But comfort and security are of little interest to Sam. She doesn't fit in at school, where the other girls have the right shade of blue jeans and don't question the rules. She doesn't care about jeans or rules. All she wants to climb. Hanging from the highest limbs of the tallest trees, scaling the side of a building, Sam feels free.
As a teenager, Sam begins to doubt herself. She yearns to be noticed, even as she wants to disappear. When her climbing coach takes an interest in her, his attention is more complicated than she anticipated. She resents her father's erratic behavior, but she grieves after he's gone. And she resists her mother's attempts to plan for her future, even as that future draws closer.
The simplicity of this tender, emotionally honest novel is what makes it so powerful. Sam by Allegra Goodman will break your heart, but will also leave you full of hope.
BookBrowsers Ask Allegra Goodman
I don't have a favorite book, but I have favorite scenes and chapters within my books. In "Isola" my favorite part to write was the last third when Marguerite returns home. I realize, however, that it was satisfying to write because of the work I'd done earlier to set up that return. Each writing...
-Allegra_G
What are you reading this week? (6/12/2025)
...r that, maybe Beta Vulgaris by Margie Sarsfield (another upcoming author). Speaking of books I picked up for Q & A prep, last week I also listened to Sam by Allegra Goodman. So different from Isola ! It's just the story of one girl's life, from age 6 to maybe 20 or 21. Nothing really exciting happens, it's just a life. B...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? (6/5/2025)
...or Jenkins Reid for review. In audiobook format, I'm still working my way through Stephanie Dray's Daughter of Cleopatra series. Next in the queue is Sam by Allegra Goodman. BTW, I want to thank you guys here on the Community Forum for letting us know about what you're reading. I've found at least two awesome books that...
-kim.kovacs
"It's impressive how much emotional power is packed into this ... contained story." —Publishers Weekly
"Allegra Goodman has written a wonderful coming-of-age story. In Sam, the heights our heroine reaches are not so dizzying, but that she ascends at all is a reason to cheer." —The Wall Street Journal
"A sensitive portrait of life lived along the poverty line in modern-day America. Allegra Goodman offers a ... sympathetic reflection on the struggles of a girl's life. Anyone who has ever been the focus of a child's impossibly inflated regard will feel alternately charmed and gutted by [Sam]." —The Washington Post
"Sam is a deeply wise and empathetic portrait of this unforgettable girl, making her way into this tricky world and into the reader's life." —Amy Bloom, New York Times bestselling author of In Love
"Sam is one of the most evocative and tender examinations of youth that I've ever read ... One of the best writers around, Goodman has made something truly beautiful, evoking a feeling that is hard to name but stirs inside us with every line." —Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here
This information about Sam was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Allegra Goodman is the author of five novels, two short story collections, and a novel for young readers. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and elsewhere, and has been anthologized in The O. Henry Awards and Best American Short Stories. She lives with her family in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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