Praise for Unbecoming:
A Stonewall Honor Book
Entertainment Weekly Must List pick
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Bookpage Best Teen Book of the Year
Shortlisted for the YA Book Prize
Shortlisted for The People's Book Prize
An iBooks Best Book of the Month pick
"This beautiful rumination on the relationships between mothers and daughters should be on every woman's reading list." —Buzzfeed
"[A] beautiful, funny, and heart-breaking story of family and life itself." —Bustle
* "Her prose gets right down inside human fragility, tenderness, fury, gusto, and strength — leaving sweet, sharp images that are impossible to forget. Exceptional." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
* "Downham's third novel offers implicit commentary on the historical and contemporary constraints on young women's lives and their freedom to love with abandon." —Horn Book, starred review
* "Extraordinary." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
* "A strong choice for thoughtful readers." —School Library Journal, starred review
"Fluid, perfectly paced, and can be easily read in one sitting. This is a heartfelt book that sensitively and honestly reveals family issues, and it's one that teens won't want to miss." —Bookpage, Teen Top Pick
"This life-affirming story about a complicated family . . . is stunningly told." —The Times (UK), Children's Book of the Week
"A beautifully drawn portrait . . . hugely ambitious in its interwoven examination of sexual identity, family secrets, torn loyalties,and the life-affirming power of breaking away from suffocating conventions." —Daily Mail (UK)
"A rich and complex coming of age story." —The Guardian (UK)
"Compassionate, uncliched and involving." —Sunday Times (UK)
"Rich in detail and tone." —Telegraph (UK)
Praise for Before I Die:
*"Lucid language makes a painful journey bearable, beautiful and transcendent."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
*"The eloquent dying teen can seem a staple of the YA novel, but this British debut completely breaks the mold. Downham holds nothing back in her wrenching and exceptionally vibrant story."—Publisher's Weekly, starred review
"In luminous prose that rings completely true, Downham earns every tear she wrings from her readers. I trust there will be many of them—many readers, and of course, many tears. A-"—Entertainment Weekly
★ 11/23/2015
Downham (You Against Me) examines the family battles and internal conflicts of three generations of women in this novel about a household in crisis. Seventeen-year-old Katie’s life takes an unexpected turn when her estranged grandmother Mary, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, moves into their small apartment. While Katie’s mother tries to find another place for Mary to stay, Katie is drawn to the elderly stranger, a woman tormented by a past she can’t reliably remember. Even though Katie already has her share of responsibilities, trying to meet her mother’s high standards and looking after her disabled brother, she offers to become Mary’s caretaker. She is determined to unlock secrets about Mary’s history but doesn’t realize how her own past is intertwined with her grandmother’s. Alternating between Katie’s and Mary’s point of view, Downham shows extraordinary skill in expressing the complex psychologies of two very different women while exploring how people are shaped by events, unrealized dreams, and restrictions. The more answers Katie finds, the more she realizes that she will have to become someone new in order to be true to herself. Ages 14–up. Agent: Catherine Clarke, Felicity Bryan Associates. (Feb.)
★ 12/01/2015
Gr 9 Up—What kind of pain can love survive? How late is too late to learn the truth? When 17-year-old Katie's estranged grandmother shows up on their doorstep, alone and suffering from dementia, Katie's tightly wound mother is enraged. Instantly drawn to the confused but fascinating old woman, who seems to embody a spirit of personal freedom and love that the teen has been longing for, Katie starts recording pieces of her grandmother's story, both to help her remember and to get to the bottom of what really happened between her mother and grandmother. It turns out all three women are harboring some pretty heavy secrets. Unveiling the narrative in bits and pieces and hopping through time periods, Downham paints a moving picture of three generations of women who haven't felt listened to or understood, who have felt confined by their choices, and who have suffered the consequences of trying to forge a new path. Katie's plotline (she is coming to terms with her growing attraction to girls) is wrapped up a little too nicely, but the two older women's stories, both past and present, are subtle and heartbreaking. The grandmother, whose slipping hold on her memories is portrayed with compassion and gentle humor, is especially well drawn. This would be a great title for teens and adults to read and discuss together. VERDICT A strong choice for thoughtful readers.—Beth McIntyre, Madison Public Library, WI
Author-narrator Jenny Downham distinguishes the lives of three family members, never losing a sense of time or character. Seventeen-year-old Katie is very dependable—at least, that’s how her working mother, Caroline, sees her. But Downham reveals roiling emotions that existed inside Katie even before, Mary, her estranged grandmother, comes to live with them. Now, Katie is confused by her mother’s initially cold reception of her mother, and by her mother’s later protectiveness toward the woman, who is slipping into dementia. Just as convincingly, Downham captures Mary’s chaotic memories and enduring guilt and Caroline’s painful memories of the past. Downham’s successful dramatization of the characters and their secrets evokes varying perspectives on memory and honesty. S.W. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
Author-narrator Jenny Downham distinguishes the lives of three family members, never losing a sense of time or character. Seventeen-year-old Katie is very dependable—at least, that’s how her working mother, Caroline, sees her. But Downham reveals roiling emotions that existed inside Katie even before, Mary, her estranged grandmother, comes to live with them. Now, Katie is confused by her mother’s initially cold reception of her mother, and by her mother’s later protectiveness toward the woman, who is slipping into dementia. Just as convincingly, Downham captures Mary’s chaotic memories and enduring guilt and Caroline’s painful memories of the past. Downham’s successful dramatization of the characters and their secrets evokes varying perspectives on memory and honesty. S.W. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
★ 2015-11-03
Three generations of a family wrestle with secrets. Katie knew nothing of a grandmother. But suddenly here one is, because the grandmother's boyfriend just died and his emergency contact was Katie's mother, Caroline. Caroline, enraged, wants to leave her mother, Mary, with social services, but despite Mary's dementia, Mary's sent home with them, to squish into the three-bedroom flat with Mum, Katie, and Katie's younger brother. Mum's smotheringly protective of her kids and now of Mary too, though coldly, without sympathy. Pain and worry seethe from events long-past—Mary's unwed teen pregnancy and the unknowing Caroline's tumultuous childhood as the supposed daughter of Mary's sister—and current: Katie's fear of admitting that she likes girls. Mary's always been a glamorous, fiery sparkplug. She broke free from the repressive social mores of white 1950s England. But she's had heartbreaking losses too, some of which torment her with their emotional pain even after dementia has stolen their details. Katie and Mary walk daily to a cafe, seeking something Mary always forgets but finding, instead, a waitress who ignites Katie's own fire. The writing, fluidly moving between both Katie's and Mary's third-person perspectives, is a wonder. Downham keenly weaves together musings, revelations, confrontations, and poignancy. Her prose gets right down inside human fragility, tenderness, fury, gusto, and strength—leaving sweet, sharp images that are impossible to forget. Exceptional. (Fiction. 14 & up)
