New York Timesย bestseller! In the tradition ofย Speak,ย Amber Smith’s extraordinary debut novel โis a heart-twisting, but ultimately hopeful, exploration of how pain can lead to strengthโ (The Boston Globe).
Eden was always good at being good. Starting high school didnโt change who she was. But the night her brotherโs best friend rapes her, Edenโs world capsizes.
What was once simple, is now complex. What Eden once lovedโwho she once lovedโshe now hates. What she thought she knew to be true, is now lies. Nothing makes sense anymore, and she knows sheโs supposed to tell someone what happened but she canโt. So she buries it instead. And she buries the way she used to be.
Told in four partsโfreshman, sophomore, junior, and senior yearโthis provocative debut reveals the deep cuts of trauma. But it also demonstrates one young womanโs strength as she navigates the disappointment and unbearable pains of adolescence, of first love and first heartbreak, of friendships broken and rebuilt, all while learning to embrace the power of survival she never knew she had hidden within her heart.