Before I Die

Author(s): Jenny Downham

Children & Young Adult

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. First published 2007.

General Information

  • : 9780385613538
  • : David Fickling Books
  • : David Fickling Books
  • : 0.408
  • : 01 July 2007
  • : United States
  • : books

Other Specifications

  • : Jenny Downham
  • : Paperback
  • : 1
  • : 336
  • : Fiction

More About The Product

An intensely moving and uncompromisingly honest story told in the words of a 16-year-old girl who is dying of leukaemia.

Winner of Inky Awards: Silver Inky 2008. Shortlisted for Brandford Boase Award 2008 and Guardian Children's Fiction Award 2008.

Jenny Downham was an actress for many years before concentrating on her writing full-time. She lives in London with her two sons.