ABOUT THIS BOOK

Tessa has just 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, and her new boyfriend, all are painfully crystallised in the precious weeks before Tessa’s time finally runs out.


REVIEWS

Review, NYTBR, October 14, 2007:
"This may sound too depressing for words, but it is only one indication of the inspired originality of Before I Die, by Jenny Downham, that the reader can finish its last pages feeling thrillingly alive ... I don't care how old you are. This book will not leave you."
—John Burnham Schwartz

Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2007
"Lucid language makes a painful journey bearable, beautiful and transcendent."

Starred Review, Publisher's Weekly, August 6, 2007
"The eloquent dying teen can seem a staple of the YA novel, but this British debut completely breaks the mold. Downham holds nothing back in her wrenching and exceptionally vibrant story."

Review, Entertainment Weekly, September 21, 2007
"Bound For Glory: This fall, five young authors deliver breakout books packed with razor-sharp writing."

Review, Entertainment Weekly, September 28, 2007
"In luminous prose that rings completely true, Downham earns every tear she wrings from her readers. I trust there will be many of them—many readers, and of course, many tears. A-"


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Before I Die is a brilliantly crafted novel, heartbreaking yet astonishingly lifeaffirming. This is Jenny Downham’s debut novel. She lives in England.


AWARDS

WINNER 2007 - Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of the Year
WINNER 2007 - Booklist Books for Youth Editors' Choice
WINNER 2007 - Book Sense Children's Pick List
WINNER 2007 - Kirkus Reviews Editor Choice Award
WINNER 2007 - Publishers Weekly Flying Start Author
WINNER 2008 - ALA Best Books for Young Adults Top 10



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