1 of 1 copy available
"This is more than a story about sexual violence—this book is about race, sexuality, love, and how anger can be a catalyst for healing."
—Gabrielle Union, bestselling author, actress, and producer
Sixteen-year-old Alicia Rivers has a reputation that precedes her. But there’s more to her story than the whispers that follow her throughout the hallways at school—whispers that splinter into a million different insults that really mean: a girl who has had sex. But what her classmates don't know is that Alicia was sexually abused by a popular teacher, and that trauma has rewritten every cell in her body into someone she doesn't recognize. To the world around her, she’s been cast, like the mythical Medusa, as not the victim but the monster of her own story: the slut who asked for it.
Alicia was abandoned by her best friend, quit the track team, and now spends her days in detention feeling isolated and invisible. When mysterious letters left in her locker hint at another victim, Alicia struggles to keep up the walls she's built around her trauma. At the same time, her growing attraction to a new girl in school makes her question what those walls are really keeping out.
"[This] fierce and brightly burning feminist roar…paints a devastating and haunting portrait of a vulnerable young woman discovering the power of her voice, her courage, and her rage." —Samira Ahmed, New York Times bestselling author of Internment and Hollow Fires
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
March 14, 2023 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593667590
- File size: 196691 KB
- Duration: 06:49:46
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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April 1, 2023
Gr 10 Up-"My whole life is how it feels/ when you get your purse stolen," 16-year-old Alicia admits-initially only to herself in this verse novel, in which Cole also deftly makes her aural debut with a solemn, smoky-voiced narration. "This world is full of wolves"-men who hunt young prey-a lesson Alicia learned at 14 when a 21-year-old violated her. Her lifelong BFF abandons her for "sleeping with guys." Everyone's favorite teacher targets her. School becomes a daily battleground. Wolfish abuse becomes shockingly commonplace. Alicia's detached single mother and estranged older brother underscore her isolation. And then anonymous notes in her locker reveal another victim. Stubborn classmates, at least, won't abandon her, offering true friendship and perhaps even a chance to love. VERDICT Cole embodies Alicia's vulnerability with aching authenticity.
Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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