He wrote the letters nine years ago when he was dying of cancer. For her birthday each year, Elise is given a letter from her dead father.

He encourages her to do well in school and keep up with her homework. When Elise turns twelve, Uncle Hugh reminds her that getting older each year means new responsibilities. She explains to Elise that she is unsure why Amanda is acting so cruelly because she never acted like that before. Caroline, as it turns out, has been best friends with Amanda for a long time. At school, Elise starts to form a friendship with Caroline. Elise hesitates to inform her family about her struggles because she is embarrassed and does not think they will understand. Elise’s aunt and uncle are concerned about Elise because they know something isn’t right. She cannot keep up with her homework and falls far behind in school.Įverything becomes more complicated for Elise when her Aunt Annie and her baby, Ava, move into Aunt Bessie and Uncle Hugh’s house. Elise also finds herself struggling in school due to the academic demands of middle school. She slowly begins to distance herself from Franklin, telling him they are too old to play make-believe anymore. Franklin doesn’t seem to care about Amanda or anyone else making fun of him, but Elise is deeply hurt and troubled by the bullying. Amanda ridicules Elise for her scraped legs and for playing make-believe with Franklin. She becomes the target of Amanda, who is beautiful, stylish, and very cruel. Elise struggles to make new friends while keeping her old ones. They are bullied, they don’t fit in, and Franklin starts acting very babyish. Elise and Franklin start sixth grade and everything feels wrong. She is anxious about how she will look the following day, the first day of school. One day, during a game of Knights, Elise falls down and scrapes her legs. She and Franklin, her best friend, have spent the summer playing for hours in the woods and fields of their farms. Elise, eleven years old as summer vacation is ending, is preparing to enter middle school. As the novel opens, Elise is living with her Aunt Bessie and her Uncle Hugh because her parents have long been dead.

An emotionally authentic coming-of-age story, Eight Keys presents layered characters and relationships that portray the uncertainties of adolescence. The key unlocks one of the eight enigmatic doors upstairs in the barn, sending her on a journey of discovery about her family and herself. Soon after she turns twelve, Elise receives a key that was left to her by her father.

Behind the house where Elise grew up is a barn with eight mysteriously locked doors on the second floor that have always puzzled her. Suzanne LaFleur’s 2011 novel, Eight Keys, follows Elise Bertrand, who has always lived in a large house with her loving aunt and uncle because her parents died when she was very young.

Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur