Winner of the Branford Boase Award 2008 for debut novel. What would you do if you were a teenage girl with leukaemia and only a short time to live?Tess has ten things on her list and with the help of her best friend she embarks upon them with gusto.This is an extraordinary novel.Despite the inevitable, it is enormously uplifting, at times humorous, often sad and always surprising.The reaction to those around her and how they treat her is as astutely observed as the dying girl herself.
Tessa has just a few months to live. Fighting back against hospital visits, tests, drugs with excruciating side-effects, she compiles a list. It's her To Do Before I Die list. And number one is sex. Released from the constraints of 'normal' life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up.
Jenny Downham was an actress for many years before concentrating on her writing full-time. She lives in London with her two sons. Her book Before I Die was critically acclaimed and was short listed for the 2007 Guardian Award and the 2008 Lancashire Children's Book of the Year, nominated for the 2008 Carnegie Medal and the 2008 Booktrust Teenage Prize, and won the 2008 Branford Boase Award.
Get to know Jenny more by watching her 30 second interview.
