You Against Me

An intense, gripping and unputdownable tale of modern star-crossed lovers, from the author of the bestselling Before I Die.

An outstanding, compelling drama from Downham

It's one of the most powerful books we've read in an age. Even after finishing, it lingered with us for days . . . Jenny Downham's novel blows other books out of the water

I loved it . . . Beautifully written with a painful but penetrating awareness

A tale of love across the social divide in coastal Norfolk, with the edge of a crime novel . . . Split loyalties and the chasm between the young couple's life experiences make their enduring relationship a triumph. Their credible and tender sexual encounter is the calm before the storm, as for Romeo and Juliet

Jenny Downham was an actress for many years before concentrating on her writing full-time. She lives in London with her two sons. 
 
Her debut novel Before I Die was critically acclaimed and was shortlisted 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.

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, their worlds collide. 
 
A brave and unflinching novel from the bestselling author of Before I Die, about first love, loyalty, betrayal and truth.

Before I Die

An intensely moving and uncompromisingly honest story told in the words of a 16-year-old girl who is dying of leukaemia. 
 
Now a major film - Now is Good - starring Dakota Fanning.

Dealing frankly with teenage life, Before I Die will be the year's most talked-about novel.

A novel that won't fail to touch those who read it...A book that will make you happy to be alive 
*****

Fierce, bold and bright...Jenny Downham is capable of exquisite, almost fevered writing, but she's also a master of pace, slowly establishing a heroine so brimful of life that it is wrenching to endure the attritions of the final pages

Downham has not only eschewed mawkishness, but has managed to convey real feeling. Her heroine - angry, funny and occasionally irrational - positively leaps off the page...This is a thoughtful, and sometimes painful, exploration of what it feels like to say goodbye to life before you have had a chance to live it.

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 Ten Things 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.

Jenny Downham

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

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

Destined to drive hundreds of thousands of readers to tears and to swift injunctions to all their friends to read it

Before I Die is so real, so sad, so true - and I so wish I'd written it myself

Tough but tender, angry rather than resigned, Tessa is an appealing heroine whose company is never less than bracing

It's a novel that won't fail to touch those who read it, and despite the melancholy subject matter it manages to be hugely life-affirming. A book that will make you happy to be alive. 5 stars

A work of great humanity and profound empathy. I defy anyone not to cry reading this book

Downham's prose is brave and bare, her characters relentlessly realistic

This is an oddly uplifting novel. It's about love and friendship and family. It deals with death, but it's a hymn to life

Writing about dying children can sometimes seem too easy a target for instant emotion but [Downham] always does much better than that

Captivating and emotionally turbulent this extrordinary book is ultimately a celebration of life

This excellent novel is not for the faint hearted, but it deserves to be very widely read

Tessa has just a few months to live. So she compiles her bucket list, her To Do Before I Die list. 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. 
 
Heartbreaking yet astonishingly life-affirming, Before I Die will take you to the very edge.

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Jenny Downham

Praise for Before I Die

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 ...

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 jus ...

Destined to drive hundreds of thousands of readers to tears and to swift injunctions to all their friends to read it

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 ...

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 jus ...

Destined to drive hundreds of thousands of readers to tears and to swift injunctions to all their friends to read it

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 ...

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 jus ...

Destined to drive hundreds of thousands of readers to tears and to swift injunctions to all their friends to read it

Books by Jenny Downham

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