Upstate Synopsis
So begins Upstate, a powerful story told through the letters between seventeen-year-old Antonio and his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, Natasha, set in the 1990s in New York. Antonio and Natasha's world is turned upside down, and their young love is put to the test, when Antonio finds himself in jail, accused of a shocking crime. Antonio fights to stay alive on the inside, while on the outside, Natasha faces choices that will change her life. Over the course of a decade, they share a desperate correspondence. Often, they have only each other to turn to as life takes them down separate paths and leaves them wondering if they will ever find their way back together.
Reviews
"Buckhanon's debut novel captures the young lovers' anger, hope and frustration. The letters are fluid, candid and colloquial...a moving and uplifting story of love and hope in the face of adversity."
-Publisher's Weekly
"A realistic love story that's set against an urban backdrop as gritty as its characters are memorable."
-People Magazine
"Upstate captures the tenacity and faithfulness of young love, as well as its heartache."
-Entertainment Weekly
"The language is urban, urgent, and possessing a poetry uniquely its own."
-Elle