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Tessa has just a few months to live. So she compiles her bucket list, her To Do Before I Die list. Number one is sex. Released from the constraints of 'normal' life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up. Heartbreaking yet astonishingly life-affirming, Before I Die will take you to the very edge.
Three women. Three generations. Three secrets. A Stonewall Honor Book!Katie's life is falling apart: her best friend thinks she's a freak, her mother, Caroline, controls every aspect of her life, and her estranged grandmother, Mary, appears as if out of nowhere. Mary has dementia and needs lots of care, and when Katie starts putting together Mary's life story, secrets and lies are uncovered: Mary's illegitimate baby, her zest for life and freedom and men; the way she lived her life to the full yet suffered huge sacrifices along the way. As the relationship between Mary and Caroline is explored, Katie begins to understand her own mother's behavior, and from that insight, the terrors about her sexuality, her future, and her younger brother are all put into perspective.Funny, sad, honest, and wise, this powerful multigenerational novel from international bestseller Jenny Downham celebrates life like no book before.
When Mikey's sister claims a boy assaulted her, his world begins to fall apart. When Ellie's brother is charged with the offence, her world begins to unravel. When Mikey and Ellie meet, their worlds collide. A brave and unflinching novel from the bestselling author of Before I Die, about first love, loyalty, betrayal and truth.
When Joe and Imogen are involved in a fatal accident, their relationship comes under scrutiny as a judge and jury, and the reader, must make a decision about who is culpable .
When she was three, Alena's activist mother died. She's been raised by her half-brother and his boyfriend in East London, which is being targeted by a lone bomber. Alena desperately wants to know about her mother, but her brother won't tell her anything. Alena's played by the rules all her life, but that's over. When she starts digging up information herself and does something that costs her brother his job and puts the family in jeopardy, Alena discovers she can be a troublemaker—just like her mother. Now she must figure out what sort of trouble she's willing to get into to find out the truth.
Megan Bright and Jackson Dawes are two teenagers who first meet each other on the hospital ward where they are both being treated for cancer. Megan is scared and worried about her illness, but Jackson seems to be an old hand, having been on the ward for ages. And everybody loves Jackson! He is a whirlwind of life and energy, warmth and sparkle. Megan will need to borrow some of Jackson's extraordinary optimism to face her and Jackson's future. A moving story of first love and a remarkably powerful debut novel.
_______________ 'A brave and beautiful book with a big heart. I loved it' - Jenny Downham 'A tear-jerker about family that shows us things that are important and true, and promotes compassion' - Nicolette Jones, Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week _______________ FROM THE WINNER OF THE YOTO CARNEGIE MEDAL 2022 We are her world and her universe and her space and her stars and her sky and her galaxy and her cosmos too. Frank is ten. He likes cottage pie and football and cracking codes. Max is five. He eats only Quavers and some colours are too bright for him and if he has to wear a new T-shirt he melts down down down. Sometimes Frank wishes Mum could still do huge paintings of stars and a...
If someone hurts your sister and you're any kind of man, you seek revenge, right?If If your brother's been accused of a terrible crime and you're the main witness, then you banish all doubt and defend him. Isn't that what families do? When Mikey's sister claims a boy assaulted her at a party, his world of work and girls begins to fall apart. When Ellie's brother is charged with the crime, but says he didn't do it, her world of revision, exams and fitting in at a new school begins to unravel. When Mikey and Ellie meet, two worlds collide. Brave and unflinching, this is a novel of extraordinary skilfulness and almost unbearable tension. It's a book about loyalty and the choices that come with ...
'We live in a world populated by dog lovers, where many of us regard them as members of the family. We are fascinated by them: either anthropomorphising our pets or obsessing about the ways they differ from us. And mountains – theatres of risk, drama and heroism – provide the perfect stage for us to enact our canine fascination in all its pathos and poetry. In short, the hills bring into focus just how much we love being with dogs.' Dogs specialise in getting on with humans, and tales of faithful hounds in hostile environments form part of our cultural history. Award-winning writer Helen Mort sets out to understand the singular relationship between dogs, mountains and the people who love them. Along the way, she meets search and rescue dogs, interviews climbers and spends time on the hills with hounds. The book is also a personal memoir, telling the author's own story of falling in love with a whippet called Bell during a transformative year in the Lake District. Never Leave the Dog Behind is a compelling account of mountain adventures and misadventures, and captures the unbridled joy of heading to the hills with a four-legged friend.
Celia Frost is a freak. At least that's what everyone thinks. Her life is ruled by a rare disorder that means she could bleed to death from the slightest cut, confining her to a gloomy bubble of "safety". No friends. No fun. No life. But when a knife attack on Celia has unexpected consequences, her mum reacts strangely. Suddenly they're on the run. Why is her mum so scared? Someone out there knows – and when they find Celia, she's going to wish the truth was a lie... A buried secret; a gripping manhunt; a dangerous deceit: what is the truth about Celia Frost? A page-turning thriller that's impossible to put down. "Paula Rawsthorne's excellent debut is original and gripping and the tension is palpable throughout... As well as being a compulsive thriller, this novel is also a skilful coming-of-age novel.Both parts of the story build to a thoroughly satisfying climax and resolution, with final twists to surprise." - Books For Keeps Winner Leeds Book Award 2012 and Sefton Super Reads Award 2012, Winner Brilliant Book Award