Humphrey's half-sister Gretchen escaped the family's itinerant lifestyle long ago, and is now graduating from Harvard College and pining for a Harvard boy who broke her heart. When fate offers Gretchen a chance to go abroad, both brother and sister find themselves with the opportunity to leave their problems behind and travel to Italy. But the siblings' Roman holiday takes a sinister turn when what was supposed to be a glamorous jaunt has fateful consequences.

The New Kid is an account of love, family, sexual awakening, and the peculiarly dangerous twists life can take -- a deftly written novel from the acclaimed author of Glamorous Disasters.