The Chalk Artist - Hardcover

Coming-of-age stories never get old, and here's an especially sweet one... an old-fashioned romance that's wise and tender * Daily Mail * Goodman is everything it says on her tin - a wonderful, lyrical writer - but she also has an astute eye for comedy and some bits of the book are truly hilarious. - Daily Mail; The Cookbook Collector is wise, moving, and every bit as impressive as Freedom - Independent on Sunday -- Praise for THE COOKBOOK COLLECTOR A thriller and a page-turner... Brilliant - Lionel Shriver, Guardian; Wonderfully written and as compulsive as Grisham... A riveting novel - The Times -- Praise for INTUITION

In exquisite detail, Goodman explores what happens when an alternate reality takes over one boy's life, and the forces at work behind his obsession: the all-encompassing gaming realm that becomes more authentic than his real world. Aidan and his twin sister Diana live with their mother in a small American town, which is dominated by the gaming company Arkadia. By day, Aidan goes to school, struggles with his friendships, does his homework as all normal teenagers do. But by night, he is a champion fighter, at the top of Arkadia's EverWhen gaming world. When he is mysteriously sent a small black BoX, which physically takes him into that world, the reality and perceptions of his two lives start dangerously to shift. Nina, Aidan's English teacher and the daughter of Arkadia's owner, suspects that something is wrong and wants to help, but she has her own demons to deal with. The love of her life, Collin, is being pulled further into the clutches of EverWhen - when the two worlds collide, everyone involved will have to decide where their loyalties actually lie.