Ripples

Abeo is fifteen, still grieving the loss of his dad and now stuck in a Pupil Referral Unit. He’s funny, he’s smart, his teachers like him; he knows he shouldn’t be there. All he wants is a fresh start. A new school. A chance to make his family proud again. But in the weeks before his death, everything changes. The world seems to close in around him and Abeo clings desperately to everything that matters to him the most and the future he knows he deserves. One year on from her brother’s murder, Tiha cannot come to terms with what happened at the gates of the school – the one place where he was meant to be safe. How does she begin to confront the pain that eats away at her every day? How does she use the same pain to rebuild everything that was destroyed and eventually do the unthinkable: forgive the boys who did it. Inspired by a heartbreaking but incredible true story, Ripples is a powerful novel told from both sides of a tragedy about the impact of violence, the systems that fail us, the radical power of forgiveness and the courage it takes to break the cycle. Abeo is fifteen, still grieving the loss of his dad and now stuck in a Pupil Referral Unit. He’s funny, he’s smart, his teachers like him; he knows he shouldn’t be there. All he wants is a fresh start. A new school. A chance to make his family proud again. But in the weeks before his death, everything changes. The world seems to close in around him and Abeo clings desperately to everything that matters to him the most and the future he knows he deserves. One year on from her brother’s murder, Tiha cannot come to terms with what happened at the gates of the school – the one place where he was meant to be safe. How does she begin to confront the pain that eats away at her every day? How does she use the same pain to rebuild everything that was destroyed and eventually do the unthinkable: forgive the boys who did it. Inspired by a heartbreaking but incredible true story, Ripples is a powerful novel told from both sides of a tragedy about the impact of violence, the systems that fail us, the radical power of forgiveness and the courage it takes to break the cycle.