Life with the Murphys contrasts with Carley's old life of poverty with a mother who often dismantled her confidence. Murphy works hard to gain Carley's trust, and Carley comes to love her foster mother deeply. Carley's mother is in the hospital after a savage beating by Carley's stepfather, and while Carley has forgotten some details of that night, she partly blames herself for what happened. When 12-year-old Carley Conners is put into foster care, she is angry and distrustful of the picture-perfect Murphy family. Winner of the Tassy Walden Award for New Voice in Children's Literature She is a character not to be missed or forgotten.' - Jacqueline Woodson, National Book Award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming From the first page, I was drawn into Carley's story. 'Hunt's writing is fearless and One For The Murphys is a story that is at once compassionate, thought-provoking and beautifully told. She's not really a Murphy, but the gifts they've given her have opened up a new future. Despite her resistance, the Murphys eventually show her what it feels like to belong-until her mother wants her back and Carley has to decide where and how to live. This loving, bustling family shows Carley the stable family life she never thought existed, and she feels like an alien in their cookie-cutter-perfect household. But the day she becomes a foster child, and moves in with the Murphys, she's blindsided. But soon she finds herself protecting the younger boys from a neighborhood bully, teaching the older brother how to play basketball, and feeling like part of a normal family for the first time in her life.īut then news from her mother shakes her world-and Carley's forced to make the most difficult decision of her life in this moving and powerful read.From the author of the New York Times bestselling novel Fish in a Tree!Ĭarley uses humor and street smarts to keep her emotional walls high and thick. Angry and distrustful, Carley keeps her distance at first.

Murphy is nothing at all like Carley's mother-she cooks meals from scratch and she actually takes Carley shopping instead of stealing clothes from the Salvation Army drop box. Carley doesn't know what to think of the warm and caring family-especially Mrs. After being placed in foster care, Carley is sent to stay with the Murphys-a lively family with three boys. But her whole life comes crashing down the night her stepfather beats her up. Growing up in Las Vegas with her fun-loving mother and Elvis-impersonator stepfather taught Carley to be tough and independent.

One for the murphys book