Jacket Copy From Dead Girls Don't Write Letters
Shattering Glass, Gail Giles's debut novel for teens, was published in 2002 to widespread acclaim. Dead Girls Don't Write Letters is her eagerly awaited second book—a compelling and edgy page-turner.
When Sunny Reynolds's beautiful and flamboyant older sister, Jazz, dies in a fire, the family falls apart. But Sunny has it all under control now, taking care of her parents and herself. Then one day a letter arrives, a letter from Jazz.
A girl follows. She looks like Jazz, moves like Jazz, everyone wants to believe she's Jazz. But she can't possibly be Jazz—or can she? She seems to know all about Sunny's family, all the jokes and secrets, but Not-Jazz clearly has a few secrets of her own. What is she hiding? And why?
Dramatic and suspenseful, this book will keep you guessing. And just when you think you know what's real and what's not, Gail Giles unfurls another surprise.
[Back flap]
Gail Giles says, "Sometimes books come from strange places. I don't know why or how, but the phrase 'Letters from a Dead Girl' stuck in my head. Who would receive a letter from a dead girl? Why? Why wouldn't she want it? I had to find the answer for Sunny—even if she didn't really want to find it herself."
Gail Giles, a native Texan, now lives in Anchorage, Alaska.
Praise for Shattering Glass by Gail Giles
*"A grimly comic debut novel revisits the dark hell of high-school cliques . . . a sure-fire hit, from a writer to watch."
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
*"Tricky, surprising, and disquieting, this tension-filled story is a psychological thriller."
—Booklist, Ten Best Mysteries for Youth, starred review
"The plot is fast-paced and compelling and there is power in the brewing violence and shocking end."
—School Library Journal
"The thriller plot and breakneck pacing will keep readers hooked—and on the lookout for this author's next book."
—Publishers Weekly
Jacket illustration copyright © 2003 by TK
[trade edn only] Also available in a Roaring Brook Press Library Edition
[S&L edn only] A Roaring Brook Press Library Edition
Printed in the United States of America
Roaring Brook Press
Brookfield, Connecticut
[back of jacket]
Things had been getting a little better until I got a letter from my dead sister.
That more or less ruined my day.
Today's mail consisted of a clutch of white envelopes with cellophane windows and a couple of catalogs. As I pulled the pile out in one bunch, a small yellow envelope slipped out and fluttered to the ground. Gracefully, just like my sister.
I froze, staring at the pale yellow rectangle. There's no way, I thought. She's dead. Dead girls don't write letters. Dead girls definitely don't write letters on yellow stationery. Dead girls might appear in dreams, they might make weird phantom ESP phone calls, but they do not write letters.
—from Dead Girls Don't Write Letters
