I received Avalon by Nell Zink as a gifted copy from Penguin Random House. If you read a lot you get somewhat proficient at definition of words by context, but this book challenged me. That normally would be a turn off, but the story was just interesting enough to keep me going despite the need to look up words.

Bran (she) grew up in her step father's home/compound after her father ran off to Australia and then her mother decided to become a Buddhist an then died as well. Doug lived on family land with his father and his son. They had a type of landscape business growing topiary they sold to others. She was regulated to a lean to outside the house and they used her labor freely while she was in school. She made a few friends that she kept in contact with after graduation but except for Jay they kind of all went their separate ways in college. Bran had no chance to go to college. As far as she knew she was an illegal. She couldn't get a driver's license or plates and registration for her car. She couldn't file taxes. She couldn't get a regular job with no reportable experience. She decides to escape after a party at the family compound got out of hand and there was mention of her being auctioned off to one of her "grandfather's" friends. She goes to stay with the parents of one of her high school friends, Will, who is in college on the east coast. They try to encourage her to be on her own and get a real job or go to college. She meets one of her best friend's, Jay, new friends, Peter and many of decisions from then on revolve around him.

I enjoyed the arc of the story and Bran's struggle to define herself. I did not enjoy having to look up words I can't imagine a bunch of 18 year old's using on a regular basis.