The Weight of Blood
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5.0 • 4 Ratings
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
* AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * INDIE BESTSELLER * JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD SELECTION * KIDS' INDIE NEXT LIST PICK * NPR BEST PICK * KIRKUS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR *
New York Times bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson ramps up the horror and tackles America’s history and legacy of racism in this suspenseful YA novel following a biracial teenager as her Georgia high school hosts its first integrated prom.
When Springville residents—at least the ones still alive—are questioned about what happened on prom night, they all have the same explanation . . . Maddy did it.
An outcast at her small-town Georgia high school, Madison Washington has always been a teasing target for bullies. And she's dealt with it because she has more pressing problems to manage. Until the morning a surprise rainstorm reveals her most closely kept secret: Maddy is biracial. She has been passing for white her entire life at the behest of her fanatical white father, Thomas Washington.
After a viral bullying video pulls back the curtain on Springville High's racist roots, student leaders come up with a plan to change their image: host the school's first integrated prom as a show of unity. The popular white class president convinces her Black superstar quarterback boyfriend to ask Maddy to be his date, leaving Maddy wondering if it's possible to have a normal life.
But some of her classmates aren't done with her just yet. And what they don't know is that Maddy still has another secret . . . one that will cost them all their lives.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Stephen King’s horror classic Carrie comes to backwoods Georgia in this thrilling reimagining. Maddy Washington’s brutal father, Thomas, forced her to hide her biracial background until one fateful day. Now, as her classmates tease her mercilessly, she pins her last hope of normalcy on her high school’s first interracial dance—before everything crashes and burns. Literally. Author Tiffany D. Jackson has crafted a timely, inventive YA homage to King’s anti-bullying classic. Her story blends a tyrannical parent and cruel teenagers with pervasive racism, both obvious and subtle, putting a familiar story in an eye-opening new context. The magic is in Maddy herself, flawed yet relatable, and simply wanting to fit in with her peers. The Weight of Blood brings a feminist twist to an iconic horror story, all while delivering some truly frightening shocks.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jackson (White Smoke) skillfully explores internalized and externalized anti-Blackness in this striking horror novel, which channels Stephen King's Carrie. Though Springfield, Ga., high school senior Maddy Washington is biracial (Black and white), her emotionally and physically abusive racist white father forces her to live as white. To keep up the charade, Maddy must never publicly wet her weekly hot combed hair. When a sudden storm in the middle of gym class unveils Maddy's natural hair texture, though, her white classmates taunt her for it. The incident, and the aggressively racist happenings that follow, cast a spotlight on Maddy's town. Suddenly, a media circus watches the school's every move, and some students petition to end their upcoming prom's segregated "tradition." As the bullying worsens, Maddy's rightful rage culminates in deadly consequences. Fans of the source material will recognize the plot structure, but Jackson's bone-chilling rendition features podcasts and documentary excerpts that follow the trajectory of Maddy's abuse at home and school to book's climax, expertly utilizing current true-crime fanaticism to form a powerfully socially conscious narrative that showcases the intense structural racism still inherent in society. Ages 14–up.
