
The Beauty of Us
Farzana Doctor(Author)
ECW Press,Canada
Published on 17. September 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-1-77041-769-4 (ISBN)
Description
September 1984, Thornton College private school.
After 15-year-old Zahabiya’s father remarries, she can’t wait to leave home and convinces him to send her away to boarding school. But will she fit in? She joins a clique of smart students but isn’t sure if she measures up or how to read the mixed messages from a guy she’s crushing on.
Seventeen-year-old Leesa has been at Thornton since middle school after her parents’ messy divorce. She’s been climbing the school’s social ladder with equal measures of meanness and manipulation. She’s also guarding a big secret that she has to work overtime to keep from her friends.
Fresh out of university, this is Nahla’s first real teaching job, and she’s drowning. She has her distractions though: the flirty art teacher and a cryptic notebook left behind by her deceased predecessor, Mademoiselle Leblanc.
Zahabiya and her friends — all racialized girls and victims of Leesa’s bullying — uncover Leesa’s secret. But can they help Leesa? Nahla, too, is embroiled in her own mystery, assisted by Mademoiselle Leblanc’s ghost. Each is indelibly changed by what they learn.
Masterfully crafted, The Beauty of Us is a gripping novel about surviving hardship, the power of friendship, and growing up.
After 15-year-old Zahabiya’s father remarries, she can’t wait to leave home and convinces him to send her away to boarding school. But will she fit in? She joins a clique of smart students but isn’t sure if she measures up or how to read the mixed messages from a guy she’s crushing on.
Seventeen-year-old Leesa has been at Thornton since middle school after her parents’ messy divorce. She’s been climbing the school’s social ladder with equal measures of meanness and manipulation. She’s also guarding a big secret that she has to work overtime to keep from her friends.
Fresh out of university, this is Nahla’s first real teaching job, and she’s drowning. She has her distractions though: the flirty art teacher and a cryptic notebook left behind by her deceased predecessor, Mademoiselle Leblanc.
Zahabiya and her friends — all racialized girls and victims of Leesa’s bullying — uncover Leesa’s secret. But can they help Leesa? Nahla, too, is embroiled in her own mystery, assisted by Mademoiselle Leblanc’s ghost. Each is indelibly changed by what they learn.
Masterfully crafted, The Beauty of Us is a gripping novel about surviving hardship, the power of friendship, and growing up.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Montreal
Canada
Target group
Young adult
US School Grade: From Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade, Interest Age: From 15 to 18 years
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 213 mm
Width: 139 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
360 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-77041-769-4 (9781770417694)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Farzana Doctor is a Tkaronto-based author, activist, and psychotherapist. She has written four critically acclaimed novels, a poetry collection, and a self-care workbook for helpers and activists. Doctor received the prestigious Freedom to Read Award in 2023, and in 2020, Seven was chosen as an Amnesty International Book Club’s Reader’s Choice Pick.
The Beauty of Us is her first YA novel. Learn more at www.linktr.ee/farzanadoctor.
The Beauty of Us is her first YA novel. Learn more at www.linktr.ee/farzanadoctor.