Lessons From a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles

Once again, I'm probably the last person on earth to read this great novel. Lessons From a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles is a novel about abuse, friendship, remorse, and forgiveness. It is also about finding your voice to speak out. This last theme affected me the most.

True friendship--what's the meaning? Is it someone who will keep your secrets? When should someone keep a secret and when should someone tell one?

"Everyone has secrets. They aren't ours to tell," (p 65) says Leah to Laine. Both girls are unable to speak up about the abuse they've suffered. Leah, who has been abused by a family friend, has in turn abused Laine, a plain girl who is timid and shy. Knowles exceptionally creates a character, Leah, that readers both hate and pity. As for Laine, we know that she doesn't know how to navigate such a complicated and abusive relationship because she's never had real friends before.

It isn't until the end of the novel that Laine learns how to physically and symbolically bury her past as she buries an unwanted doll and eventually Leah's body that died in a crash. Though she never receives an answer from Leah about why she was singled out for such abuse, Laine has real friends in the end and through their support and her courage, she can finally speak up for the timid girl she used to be.

I highly recommend this book. One finds power in this novel, strength in the voice Laine finds in the end.