Before I Die, Jenny Downham

I sit up and switch on the bedside light. There's a pen, but no paper, so on the wall behind me I write, I want to feel the weight of a boy on top of me. Then I lie back down and look out at the sky. It's gone a funny colour - red and charcoal all at once, like the day is bleeding out.

Sixteen-year-old Tessa is dying, but she isn't going quietly. She makes a list of the ten things she wants to do before she dies, starting with taking drugs and having sex. What unfolds is a frank and moving portrayal that draws its power from an intimate depiction of the frailties of every human body. Tessa goes home to die, to live, cared for by her father. Her situation is never coldly medicalised, but depicted with a fierce humanity. Before I Die works through Tessa’s pitch-perfect voice and resists every false emotion and easy escape. She lives with integrity and ruthless honesty. Invest in a good box of tissues, because you will cry.

Before I Die is longlisted for the Silver Inky.