"I Will Find You Again"

Sarah Lyu grew up outside of Atlanta, Georgia, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. She loves a good hike and can often be found with a paintbrush in one hand and a cup of milky tea in the other. Lyu is the author of The Best Lies and I Will Find You Again.

She applied the Page 69 Test to I Will Find You Again and reported the following:

Page 69 opens on the beginning of chapter 17 of I Will Find You Again, in a scene where the main character, Chase, meets up with Hunter after school. Both girls used to be rivals for the affections of Lia, Chase’s ex and Hunter’s current girlfriend. Only, Lia disappeared a few days ago and was recently found dead. Chase resents Hunter but is also drawn to her because she’s the only one who has a full picture of the last few months of Lia’s life. Chase and Lia were best friends for a decade before they fell in love, and Chase is on a quest to find out what happened to the person she loved most in the world.

On this page, the anger Chase feels for Hunter is palpable—“My hands curl into fists at my side but I know all my rage won’t get me anywhere, so I force them open.” Chase can’t believe Lia would choose someone like Hunter, a spoiled heiress who has never had to lift a finger for the very things Chase strives for: a future of financial security, a life of power and influence.

Though this page is on the shorter side because it’s a chapter opener, it still gives a good glimpse of what the novel holds. The tension between Chase and Hunter is unmistakable and sets up one of the central conflicts of the book. The page also ends on a moment of reflection for Chase as the two of them walk around campus. On the previous page, she was at cross country practice and as has happened a few times on her runs, she feels the pull of traffic, a temptation toward self-annihilation. At the end of this page, she feels some relief when the suicidal thoughts that have been haunting her don’t reappear.

Depression and suicidal ideation are subjects I wanted to write about because they’ve taken a lot of space in my life. Chase’s struggles with self-harm and destruction were a way for me to process my own struggles with mental health over the years. And while we only see a glimpse of it on this page, it’s connected with Chase’s mission to understand what happened to Lia and what happened between them, and it’s part of her larger journey of discovering who she is and the key to her ability to forge a future for herself.

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My Book, The Movie: I Will Find You Again.

--Marshal Zeringue