The People We Keep Summary: A 1990s Journey of Music
TL;DR: The Heart of the Story
In November 1994, sixteen-year-old April Sawicki lives alone in a motorless motorhome in upstate New York.
Her mother left years ago, and her father is preoccupied with his new partner.
After a fleeting moment of being truly heard at a local open mic night, a violent argument with her father shatters both her guitar and her sense of safety, prompting her to flee.
This act of rebellion begins a journey across the East Coast.
Allison Larkin’s novel, The People We Keep, follows April as she navigates homelessness, fleeting relationships, and her passion for songwriting, all while searching for a place to call home.
- A Runaway’s Odyssey: The story follows April Sawicki’s three-year journey after leaving an abusive home at sixteen, living out of her car and gigging wherever she can find an audience.
- A Search for Belonging: Through a series of temporary homes and relationships, April grapples with her deep-seated fear of abandonment, learning to trust and build a “found family.”
- Music as a Lifeline: Songwriting and performing are April’s primary tools for processing trauma, expressing herself, and connecting with others in a world that often rejects her.
The People We Keep Summary: The Deep Dive
Spoilers ahead. This section recounts the major events and ending of the novel.
The novel opens with April Sawicki scraping by in a dilapidated motorhome in Little River, New York. Her father is emotionally and physically absent, and her only solace is her guitar and her job at a local diner, where the waitress, Margo, offers her a semblance of maternal care.
After her father destroys her guitar in a rage, April steals a neighbor’s car and drives to Ithaca, New York. There, she is hired by Carly, a vibrant barista, to work at a local cafe. April meets Adam, a graduate student who offers her a place to stay.
April and Adam soon begin a romantic relationship, and she finds comfort in his kindness and their shared love of music. She also forms a powerful friendship with Carly. However, when Carly’s jealous ex-girlfriend discovers April is underage and using a fake ID, she threatens to expose her, which would ruin Adam’s academic career.
To protect Adam and Carly, April flees Ithaca on Christmas Eve, leaving Adam a note and a gift, and leaving her most prized possession, her mother’s ring box, as payment for his kindness.
For the next two years, April lives as a traveling musician, playing gigs from New York to Florida. She sends unsent letters to Carly, confessing her loneliness and guilt. Her journey includes a brief, painful reunion with her ex-boyfriend, Matty, who has become a famous soap opera actor.
She later takes a road trip with a wealthy, naive college student named Justin, who gets her pregnant and then abandons her in Florida. Destitute and pregnant, April finds refuge in Asheville, North Carolina. She is taken in by a kind theater instructor, Ethan, and his friend Robert, forming a new makeshift family.
April and Robert begin a relationship, but April is consumed by guilt over not telling Robert the baby isn’t his. When he proposes, she realizes she cannot live the lie. She leaves another note, confessing the truth to Ethan, and flees again.
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Now eight months pregnant, April learns her father is dying. She drives 1,200 miles back to Little River but arrives too late. After a final confrontation with Justin, who denies paternity, she accepts that Ithaca is the only place she has ever felt at home.
April returns to Ithaca, leaves all her unsent letters for Carly, and goes to the lakeshore where she shared happy memories. There, her water breaks, and she falls, injuring herself. Carly, having read the letters, finds her and rushes her to the hospital.
April gives birth to a healthy son, Max. She wakes to find her “chosen family” at her side: Margo, Carly, and Ethan, who has moved to Ithaca to raise Max with her.
The novel ends with April naming Ethan as Max’s father, ready to finally build a permanent home.
Books Like The People We Keep
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens: Features a young female protagonist who survives abandonment and isolation, relying on self-reliance and a deep connection to her natural surroundings to find her identity.
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid: Captures the raw energy of the music scene and the emotional realities of life on the road as a musician, exploring the creative process and the personal cost of fame.
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah: Explores a young woman’s survival of an abusive parent and her journey to find warmth and community in a harsh and unforgiving landscape.
Wild by Cheryl Strayed: A memoir that details a woman’s raw and emotional journey of self-discovery as she hikes the Pacific Crest Trail, confronting grief and past mistakes.
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah: Centers on the fierce and enduring friendship between two women, showing how their bond serves as an anchor through decades of personal upheaval and change.
Characters In This Book
| Character | Role |
| April Sawicki | The narrator and protagonist; a teenage runaway and songwriter searching for a home. |
| Margo | A waitress in Little River who provides April with maternal support and advice. |
| Carly | A barista in Ithaca who becomes April’s best friend and confidante. |
| Adam Jergens | A Cornell graduate student who gives April a home in Ithaca and becomes her first adult love. |
| Ethan | A theater instructor in Asheville who becomes a surrogate brother and lifelong friend to April. |
| Robert | A restaurant owner in Asheville who enters a romantic relationship with April. |
| Justin | A wealthy college student who travels with April and is the biological father of her child. |
| Matty Spencer | April’s teenage boyfriend from Little River who later becomes a famous actor. |
| Irene Bartkowski | April’s father’s partner, who is pregnant with April’s half-sister. |
| Mr. Sawicki | April’s neglectful and short-tempered father. |
What Drives the Story
| Theme | How the Book Presents It |
| Found Family vs. Biological Family | April’s journey is a physical and emotional transition from a neglectful biological home to a self-made support network of friends and mentors like Margo, Carly, and Ethan, who provide the unconditional love her parents did not. |
| Music as Identity and Healing | April’s songwriting is her primary method for processing trauma and expressing herself. Her guitar is her most constant companion and the tool she uses to connect with others, from open mic nights to recording an EP. |
| Home, Belonging, and Permanence | The novel traces April’s search for a physical place to call home, from a motorhome and stolen cars to the city of Ithaca. Her character arc involves learning to stop running from safety and to allow herself to stay and build a permanent life. |
| Trauma, Survival, and Restlessness | April’s instinct to flee when she gets too close to people is a direct result of her childhood trauma. Her habit of packing up and leaving becomes a self-destructive pattern she must confront in order to heal. |
Book Details
- Genre & Subgenre: Contemporary Fiction, Coming-of-Age, Domestic Drama
- Core Narrative Tropes: Found Family, Road Trip, Secret Pregnancy, Unsent Letters, Healing Through Art
- Tone & Atmosphere: Bittersweet, Intimate, Melancholic, Hopeful
- Primary Conflict: April’s internal struggle with trauma and the fear of abandonment that compels her to run from intimacy and safety.
- Pacing Style: Character-driven and episodic, structured around key geographic movements and timeline jumps.
- ISBN: 978-1982171292
- Pages: 368
- Book Structure: Divided into three main parts and 72 chapters.
- Author Background: Allison Larkin is the author of several novels, including Swim to Me and Why Can’t I Be You. She is known for writing character-driven stories about unconventional families and emotional journeys.
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Quotes from The Book
“You gotta learn the ropes. And if you know the ropes, it’s your job to teach them.”
“I think maybe everyone is scared to be alone. Maybe when you get down to it, that’s why everybody does everything. Maybe all we’re doing is trying to be less alone.”
“I guess what matters most is that they were the wrong people and we should have had the right ones.”
“I say that it’s amazing how much you can miss people you only got to be with for one tiny little perfect bit of time; how a place where you barely got to live can be the closest thing you’ve ever had to home.”
“You’re the gift that came from two broken people. They were weak, and hurt, and cowardly, and somehow managed to make this miracle girl who is so full of piss and vinegar that she survived it all.”
“You don’t get to disappear anymore. You can’t go running off into the woods like a wounded deer. You lean on me when it hurts. That’s what we’re here for—to lean on each other.”
“When are you going to get it through your thick little head that there is nothing you could do to make me stop loving you?”
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