We Come Apart

We Come Apart

By Author / Illustrator

Sarah Crossan, Brian Conaghan

Genre

Adventure

Age range(s)

11+

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

ISBN

9781408878859

Format

Hardback

Published

09-02-2017

Synopsis

YA rising stars Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan join forces to break readers' hearts in this contemporary story of star-cross'd lovers. Jess would never have looked twice at Nicu if her friends hadn't left her in the lurch. Nicu is all big eyes and ill-fitting clothes, eager as a puppy, even when they're picking up litter in the park for community service. He's so not her type. Appearances matter to Jess. She's got a lot to hide.Nicu thinks Jess is beautiful. His dad brought Nicu and his mum here for a better life, but now all they talk about is going back home to find Nicu a wife. The last thing Nicu wants is to get married. He wants to get educated, do better, stay here in England. But his dad's fists are the most powerful force in Nicu's life, and in the end, he'll have to do what his dad wants.As Nicu and Jess get closer, their secrets come to the surface like bruises. The only safe place they have is with each other. But they can't be together, forever, and stay safe - can they?An extraordinary, high-impact, high-emotion collaboration between two Carnegie honoured rising stars of YA. Perfect for fans of Patrick Ness, Malorie Blackman, Rainbow Rowell and John Green.Sarah Crossan received the 2016 CILIP Carnegie Medal for her astonishing novel One, which also won the YA Book Prize,CBI Book of the Year Award and the CliPPA Poetry Award. Brian Conaghan's powerful debut, When Mr Dog Bites, was shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, Peters Book of the Year and CBI Book of the Year Award.

Reviews

Jane

This is a hauntingly beautiful book. Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan have collaborated to write the stories of Jess and Nicu respectively. Both teenagers live on the edges of their communities, friendless and unsupported. Both are trying to escape: Jess from a violent and abusive stepfather and Nicu from parental pressure for an arranged marriage. They meet on a young offenders' programme. Their friendship grows, very tentatively at first, but gradually trust is established and they begin to share their secrets and fears. The voices of Jess and Nicu are distinctive and authentic; written in free verse, the stories are full of raw emotion. A deep, real and unrequited love develops and I found myself longing for a happy ending. But life's not like that, is it? 336 pages / Ages 12+ / Reviewed by Jane Welby, school librarian.

Suggested Reading Age 11+

 

Other titles