The Yearbook

When a high school student picks up a Class of 1941 yearbook for a history project, he glimpses the lives and outcomes of a generation past, changing his outlook on life and humanity. Set in modern-day Indiana, Maximus faces the pressures of choosing to adhere to a reputation or accept his newfound understanding of the fragile and finite characteristics of human nature. Maximus’ senior year in high school is spent torn between an absent mother and a hopeless future until he stumbles upon a yearbook generations lost. To appease the requirements for a history project, Maximus reaches out to four students from the Class of ’41 to learn their stories, and in doing so, gains a deeper understanding of life through their experiences, mainly centered on WWII. Meanwhile, Maximus’ mother reveals a secret too late and, days later, is overrun by the cancer that has ravaged her body. In the wake of her passing, Maximus’ absent father, rumored to be long dead, resurfaces in the form of an old friend. Only through his new understanding of humanity does he realize the ultimate sacrifice his mother has made and the new hope he has in a relationship with his father. THE YEARBOOK is a historical fiction that details the emotion and loss of life surrounding World War II, and how even the lessons of the past can continue to educate the generation of today. The novel will greatly appeal to fiction readers who enjoy reading of the importance of human bonds and the unstoppable passage of time.