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Before I Die

By: Jenny Downham

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Paperback | 2 July 2015 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
336 Pages

Age
12 - 17

Dimensions(cm)
34.3 x 23.5 x 6.8

Paperback

RRP $27.99

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Tessa has just a few months to live. Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, drugs with excruciating side-effects, Tessa compiles a list. It's her To Do Before I Die list. And 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. Tessa's feelings, her relationships with her father and brother, her estranged mother, her best friend, her new boyfriend, all are painfully crystallized in the precious weeks before Tessa's time finally runs out. BEFORE I DIE is a brilliantly-crafted novel, heartbreaking yet astonishingly life-affirming. It will take you to the very edge.

Industry Reviews

Novels for young teenagers do not usually feature drugs and casual sex within the first 20-odd pages. But most books for teenagers will not leave an adult reader's eyes so blurry with tears that it's hard to see the final chapters. Jenny Downham's extraordinary first novel does both * The Sunday Times *
This is an affecting and brave novel. Tessa is such a rich character . . . For everyone, it is a reminder to value the people that matter, seize the moment, wish with courage, adventure with relish, even if it's just a trip to the swimming pool, drinking hot chocolate or driving down a dual carriageway in the rain * Guardian *
Destined to drive hundreds of thousands of readers to tears and to swift injunctions to all their friends to read it * Observer *
Before I Die is so real, so sad, so true - and I so wish I'd written it myself * Jacqueline Wilson *
Tough but tender, angry rather than resigned, Tessa is an appealing heroine whose company is never less than bracing * Independent *

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