Pick the Lock

From two-time Michael L. Printz Award winner A.S. King, a weird and insightful new novel about a girl intent on picking the lock of her toxic family.

Pick the Lock introduces us to Jane Vandermaker-Cook, who is desperate to have her mother back in her life. While Jane's mother travels the world to support the family, Jane resides in a Victorian mansion with her younger brother and their deceptive father, who confines Jane's mother to a system of pneumatic tubes whenever she returns home. Adding to the oddity are the ever-present Aunt Finch, the gardener Milorad, and his rat, Brutus. To Jane, this is all a part of her everyday reality, until she discovers the files of security-camera videos documenting her entire lifetime.

A.S. King's latest surrealist masterpiece follows Jane's bizarre and brilliant journey to reconnect with her mother by breaking out of her shell and composing a punk opera.