In Claire Forrest’s debut novel, Where You See Yourself, Euphemia “Effie” Galanos is in her senior year at Mill City High School in Minneapolis. Little has changed about the high school since she started there. Effie continues to be a very good student. Her best friends are still Cam and Harper. Teachers continue to mispronounce her first name and are ever glad for her nickname. Her dark curly hair has not changed its unruly ways. She still makes her way around the building in her wheelchair, and it is still not easy. And the crush she has on Wilder, her in school friend, continues. Unabated.
What Effie wants from senior year is to find the right college where she can study social media and journalism. She wants to make a difference in the lives of people like herself. They, like her, are defined by how they move around in the world.
As Effie ponders colleges, she ponders Wilder, too. Might he like her the way she likes him? They both want to go to Prospect University in New York City. Effie imagines them there together. She is certain her mom will not want her to go to New York City, a place that is difficult for a person in a wheelchair to navigate. But Effie wants to try.
Readers will root for Effie in every moment of her senior year. I did. This is a marvelous read.
Maureen Millea Smith is a retired librarian and Minnesota Book Award winning novelist.
