Before I Die [Hardcover]

'Dealing frankly with teenage life, Before I Die will be the year's most talked-about novel'

'A novel that won't fail to touch those who read it...will make you happy to be alive'

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

Now a major film - Now is Good - starring Dakota Fanning.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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 Ten Things 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.

It's really going to happen. They said it would, but this is quicker than anyone thought.

When you're 16 and time is running out, there's an awful lot of living to do...

Uplifting, life-affirming, joyous - this extraordinary novel celebrates what it is to be alive by confronting what it's really like to die.

'Destined to drive hundreds and thousands of readers to tears and to swift injunctions to all their friends to read it'

Observer

'Downham's prose is brave and bare, her characters relentlessly realistic' Sunday Telegraph

'A work of great humanity and profound empathy' Daily Express

'Affecting and brave...For everyone, it is a reminder to value the people that matter, seize the moment, wish with courage, adventure with relish, even if it's just a trip to the swimming pool, drinking hot chocolate or driving down a dual carriageway in the rain' Guardian

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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