I Swear
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- £5.99
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
Who’s to blame when bullying leads to suicide? This “riveting read on an important topic” (Kirkus Reviews) seeks answers in and out of the courtroom.
After years of abuse from her classmates, and thinking she had no other options, Leslie took her own life. Now her abusers are dealing with the fallout. In the eyes of the accused girls, they are not to blame: Leslie chose to take her life. She chose to be the coward they always knew she was.
As criminal proceedings examine the systematic cyber bullying and harassment that occurred, the girls vow to keep their stories straight and make Leslie seem weak. But as the events leading up to her death unfold, it becomes clear that although Leslie took her own life, her bullies took everything else.
Told in alternating perspectives and through well-paced flashbacks, this timely novel is filled with “sharp dialogue, absorbing deposition scenes, blackmail, and complex characterizations” (Publishers Weekly) and sheds light on both the victims of bullying and the consequences bullies face.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Davis debuts with a gripping mystery that takes place during the aftermath of the suicide of a bullied high school student named Leslie. Popular, cruel, and manipulative Macie targeted Leslie because Jake picked Leslie instead of her. Jake, who agonized over why Leslie kept him at a distance, now believes that Macie drove Leslie to take her own life. Other players include new girl Katherine; Beth, a gymnast with a big secret; hipster Krista; and Jillian, Jake's insecure younger sister all of whom continue to be manipulated by Macie after Leslie's death. Tension mounts when Leslie's parents initiate a wrongful death suit and characters are subpoenaed. Alternating between multiple points of view, Davis's first-person narratives skillfully flip between past and present, portraying the events that led to Leslie's demise with impeccably plotted details and shifting emotions and alliances. Sharp dialogue, absorbing deposition scenes, blackmail, and complex characterizations will have readers racing through this sensitive and lyrically written drama that affirms, "you're only as sick as your secrets." Ages 14 up.
