Prize-winning Jenny Downham’s debut novel Before I Die was the profoundly moving story of the death of a teenager. Told with immense insight and compassion it showed Jenny’s talent for understanding the energetic positivity of teenagers; how, for them, the ‘now’ matters more than the ‘what happens next’.
In You Against Me, a thrilling, high stakes novel of love across the barricades, Mikey and Ellie overcome quite different challenges. When Mikey’s sister is raped, Mikey determines to show her he cares by getting even with the boy who did it. When Ellie’s brother is accused of the rape her family falls apart. With their very different worlds collapsing around them, Mikey and Ellie should hate each other; instead they fall in love. Shot through with romance this is a gripping and realistic look at how teenagers deal with big issues and face up to tough consequences when things go wrong.
The LoveReading Comment:
This is a brave and unflinching novel from the award-winning and bestselling author of Before I Die. It’s a book about loyalty and the choices that come with it. But above all, it’s a book about love.
If someone hurts your sister and you're any kind of man, you seek revenge, right?
If your brother's accused of a terrible crime but says he didn't do it, you defend him, don't you?
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, two worlds collide.
This is a brave and unflinching novel from the bestselling author ofBefore I Die. It's a book about loyalty and the choices that come with it. But above all it's a book about love.
Praise for Jenny’s award-winning debut novel, Before I Die:
'A book that will make you happy to be alive' - Heat
'Extraordinary' - Sunday Times
'Destined to drive hundreds of thousands of readers to tears and to swift injunctions to all their friends to read it' - Observer
'A work of great humanity and profound empathy' - Daily Express
'I don’t care how old you are. This book will not leave you' - New York Times
Author
About Jenny Downham
Jenny Downham was our Guest Editor in January 2010. Click here to see the books she chose.
Jenny Downham was an actress for many years before concentrating on her writing full-time. She lives in London with her two sons. Her book Before I Die was critically acclaimed and was short listed for the 2007 Guardian Award and the 2008 Lancashire Children's Book of the Year, nominated for the 2008 Carnegie Medal and the 2008 Booktrust Teenage Prize, and won the 2008 Branford Boase Award. It was also adapted for film and released in 2012 titled Now Is Good, starring Dakota Fanning and Jeremy Irvine. Jenny's second novel, You Against Me, won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, and her third novel, Unbecoming, was shortlisted for the YA Book Prize.
Get to know Jenny more by watching her 30 second interview.
