Owen Turner is a boy of too many words. For years, they all stayed inside his head and he barely spokeuntil he met Lily. Lily, the girl who gave him his voice, helped him come out as bi, and settle into his ASD diagnosis. But everything unravels when someone reports Owens biggest secret to the school: that he was sexually assaulted at a class event. As officials begin interviewing students to get to the bottom of things, rumors about an assault flood the school hallways. No one knows it happened to Owen, and hes afraid of what will happen if his name gets out.Hes afraid that his classmates will call him a word he cant standvictim.Hes afraid his father, a tough-as-nails military vet, will resort to extreme methods to hunt down the name of who did it.And hes afraid that when Lily finds out, shell take their relationship to a dark, dangerous place to keep Owen quiet. Then, one day, Owens fears all come true. And itll take everything hes got to escape the explosion intact.

 

 

This book has been graded for interest at 14 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 2023 by Page Street Publishing Co. .

Zack Smedley is a chemical engineer who recently graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. As a member of the LGBT community, his goal is to give a voice to marginalized young adults through gritty, morally complex narratives. Deposing Nathan is his first novel. Find him on Twitter @zack_smedley.