Acidly funny and compulsively readable, Mercedes Helnweins debut novel Slingshot is a story about two people finding each other and then screwing it all up. See also: soulmate, friendship, stupidity, sex, bad poetry, and all the indignities of being in love for the first time.Grace Welles had resigned herself to the particular loneliness of being fifteen and stuck at a third-tier boarding school in the swamps of Florida, when she accidentally saves the new kid in her class from being beaten up. With a single aim of a slingshot, the monotonous mathematics of her life are obliterated foreverbecause now there is a boy in it that she never asked for. Wade Scholfield.With Wade, Grace discovers a new way to exist. School rules are optional, life is bizarrely perfect, and conversations about wormholes can lead to make-out sessions that disrupt any logical stream of thought.So why does Grace crush Wades heart into a million tiny pieces? And what are her options when she finally realizes that 1. The universe doesnt revolve around her, and 2. Wade has been hiding a dark secret? Is Grace the only person unhinged enough to save him?Eleanor and Park meets Ladybird in this outstanding debut novel.

 

 

This book has been graded for interest at 12 years.

There are 352 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2021 by Pan Macmillan .