I Swear

Who’s to blame when bullying leads to suicide? This “riveting read on an important topic” (Kirkus Reviews) seeks answers in and out of the courtroom. After years of abuse from her classmates, and thinking she had no other options, Leslie took her own life. Now her abusers are dealing with the fallout. In the eyes of the accused girls, they are not to blame: Leslie chose to take her life. She chose to be the coward they always knew she was. As criminal proceedings examine the systematic cyber bullying and harassment that occurred, the girls vow to keep their stories straight and make Leslie seem weak. But as the events leading up to her death unfold, it becomes clear that although Leslie took her own life, her bullies took everything else. Told in alternating perspectives and through well-paced flashbacks, this timely novel is filled with “sharp dialogue, absorbing deposition scenes, blackmail, and complex characterizations” (Publishers Weekly) and sheds light on both the victims of bullying and the consequences bullies face.