This is a beautifully crafted, cautionary tale for teenagers on the perils of unprotected sex and the dangers of keeping the truth hidden. Michael and Rose are both good kids going into their final year at high school – studious, involved in extra-curricular activities and with close families. They are also naive, inexperienced and very much in love. Ill-equipped to cope with the pregnancy that results from their first sexual experience, they deny what is happening to Rose’s body until circumstances take over.

Drawn from actual events, the story is written in alternating chapters from the perspectives of Rose and Michael with immediacy and compassion. It’s a wonderful, if tragic, tale. This book should be required reading for all teenagers 15 and up. It will also provoke powerful discussion within a classroom situation.

Angela Crocombe is from Readings Carlton.