Since You Left Me
A Young Adult Novel
Egmont USA, April 2011
Everyone believes in something. Almost everyone.
For Sanskrit Aaron Zuckerman, it isn’t easy to believe. Especially when all the people you care about leave.
His dad left after the divorce. The love of his life left in second grade. His best friend in Jewish school found God and practically left the planet. Now his yoga-teacher mom is falling in love with her spiritual guru, and she’s threatening to leave, too.
In a desperate attempt to keep his family together, Sanskrit tells just one small lie. And for a while it seems to be working. Because people start coming back. Sanskrit might even get the family he always wanted.
There’s just one little thing in his way. The truth.
Against the setting of modern-day Los Angeles, YA author Allen Zadoff presents a funny and heartbreaking novel about the search for love—and meaning—in a world where everyone is looking for something to hang on to.
“…it isn’t the plotline that makes Allen Zadoff’s Since You Left Me special: it’s Sanskrit’s voice…so snarkily hilarious that you’ll laugh through all of the painful moments.”
– Kirkus Reviews
“Zadoff tells the story of California’s new Jewish family…a humorous and introspective read for any age.”
– The Jewish Daily Forward