Brie McQuade Books in Order

The Brie McQuade books show a different side of Ann Rinaldi. Instead of sending a young narrator into the American Revolution or the Civil War, Rinaldi writes contemporary family drama about a teenager trying to figure out where she belongs. The series begins with But in the Fall I'm Leaving and continues with The Good Side of My Heart.

Brie has a lot to sort through.

Her full name is Brieanna McQuade, and she lives with her father after her mother left when Brie was very young. Her father is strict, protective, and not always good at explaining himself. Brie feels watched and managed, but also lonely. She wants a mother, a little space, and some honest answers.

In But in the Fall I'm Leaving, Brie plans to leave her father and live with her mother in California. That plan grows more complicated after she gets in trouble for spray painting Miss Emily’s house and is forced into contact with the older woman. What begins as punishment turns into a family mystery, since Miss Emily is connected to Brie in ways Brie has not been told.

The book is about divorce, but not only divorce. It is also about money, class, religion, social responsibility, and the stories adults build around children “for their own good.” Brie’s brother Kevin, a priest, gives the series another steady point of pressure. He loves her, challenges her, and sometimes fails her too. Nobody in these books is simple.

The Good Side of My Heart keeps Brie in the middle of complicated feelings. At sixteen, she begins dating Josh, an older high school student, despite her father’s disapproval. Brie hopes the relationship might become romantic in the way she imagines, but Josh’s honesty forces her to rethink love, friendship, and what it means to care about someone without owning their future.

That was bold ground for a young adult novel of its time.

The Brie McQuade series is a good choice for readers who like Rinaldi’s interest in secrets and moral pressure but want it without a historical setting. These books are not about famous public events. They are about the private weather of adolescence: wanting to leave, wanting to be claimed, and learning that families can love each other badly before they learn to do better.