When We Get There

{{short description|Book by Shauna Seliy}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox book |

| name = When We Get There (WWGT)

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image = File:When We Get There.jpg

| caption = First edition

| author = Shauna Seliy

| cover_artist =

| country = United States

| language = English

| series =

| genre =

| publisher = Bloomsbury

| release_date = 2007

| media_type = Print (hardback)

| pages = 259

| isbn =

| oclc = 77573534

| preceded_by =

| followed_by =

}}

When We Get There is a novel about coming-of-age by the American writer Shauna Seliy set in 1974 in western Pennsylvania.{{Cite web |title=Coming-of-age novel set in Western Pa. |url=https://www.tribliveoffers.com/welcome |access-date=2024-11-24 |website=www.tribliveoffers.com}} The author’s hometown of Yukon is in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania which has coal mining history.{{Cite book |last=Muller |first=Edward K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4OzXSqb3lxkC&dq=%22Westmoreland+County%22+Pennsylvania+coal+mining+important+industry&pg=PA14 |title=Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites |date=1994 |publisher=Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record |language=en}}

The novel tells the story of Lucas Lessar. His father has died in a mining accident and his mother has mysteriously disappeared, so he lives with his grandmother. Zoli, his mother's estranged boyfriend, starts to harass Lucas, prompting him to skip school and take long bus rides in attempts to find his mother.{{cite news |first=Regis |last=Behe |date=29 July 2007 |title=Coming-of-age novel set in Western Pa. |work=Pittsburgh Tribune-Review |url=http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/rss/s_519153.html}}