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The Lives of Desperate Girls

Author MacKenzie Common
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Hardcover
$16.99 US
Tundra Book Group | Penguin Teen Canada
5.8"W x 8.6"H x 1"D  
On sale Sep 19, 2017 | 304 Pages | 9780143198710
Grade 9 & Up
Reading Level: Fountas & Pinnell Z
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One small, northern community. Two girls gone -- one missing, the other dead. A riveting coming-of-age debut young adult novel for fans of We Were Liars and All the Bright Places.

     Sixteen-year-old Helen Commanda is found dead just outside Thunder Creek, Ontario. Her murder goes unremarked, except for the fact that it may shed light on the earlier disappearance of Chloe Shaughnessy. Chloe is beautiful, rich and white. Helen is plain, and from the reservation. They had nothing in common except that they were teenage girls from an unforgiving small town. Only Chloe's best friend Jenny Parker knows exactly how unforgiving, but she's keeping some dangerous secrets of her own.

     Jenny begins looking for answers about Helen's life and death, trying to understand larger questions about her town and her best friend. But what can a teenage girl really accomplish where adults have failed? And how much is Jenny actually complicit in a conspiracy of silence?
MACKENZIE COMMON is twenty-seven years old. She was born in Newfoundland but she spent most of her life in North Bay, Ontario, which fundamentally shaped who she is today. She is currently working on her fourth degree, a PhD in Law at the London School of Economics (LSE). She lives in London, England, with her partner and her pug, Frankie. This is her first novel. View titles by MacKenzie Common
  • SHORTLIST | 2018
    Arthur Ellis Award - Best Juvenile/Young Adult Crime Book
One of CCBC’S Best Books for Kids & Teens (2018)

"3.5/4... Common has created a powerful story about the quiet racism that exists in many small towns and asks readers to consider why one life is less important than another. Highly recommended for study in high school classrooms." --CM Magazine

"Jenny’s voice is painful in its brutal honesty and her palpably felt helplessness, and there are layers of tragedy here that bring her to the realization that safe is merely another word for lucky." --The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

About

One small, northern community. Two girls gone -- one missing, the other dead. A riveting coming-of-age debut young adult novel for fans of We Were Liars and All the Bright Places.

     Sixteen-year-old Helen Commanda is found dead just outside Thunder Creek, Ontario. Her murder goes unremarked, except for the fact that it may shed light on the earlier disappearance of Chloe Shaughnessy. Chloe is beautiful, rich and white. Helen is plain, and from the reservation. They had nothing in common except that they were teenage girls from an unforgiving small town. Only Chloe's best friend Jenny Parker knows exactly how unforgiving, but she's keeping some dangerous secrets of her own.

     Jenny begins looking for answers about Helen's life and death, trying to understand larger questions about her town and her best friend. But what can a teenage girl really accomplish where adults have failed? And how much is Jenny actually complicit in a conspiracy of silence?

Author

MACKENZIE COMMON is twenty-seven years old. She was born in Newfoundland but she spent most of her life in North Bay, Ontario, which fundamentally shaped who she is today. She is currently working on her fourth degree, a PhD in Law at the London School of Economics (LSE). She lives in London, England, with her partner and her pug, Frankie. This is her first novel. View titles by MacKenzie Common

Awards

  • SHORTLIST | 2018
    Arthur Ellis Award - Best Juvenile/Young Adult Crime Book

Praise

One of CCBC’S Best Books for Kids & Teens (2018)

"3.5/4... Common has created a powerful story about the quiet racism that exists in many small towns and asks readers to consider why one life is less important than another. Highly recommended for study in high school classrooms." --CM Magazine

"Jenny’s voice is painful in its brutal honesty and her palpably felt helplessness, and there are layers of tragedy here that bring her to the realization that safe is merely another word for lucky." --The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

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