Breathe - Anne-Sophie Brasme

'Barely out of childhood, I had already commited the irreparable.'

Beautifully and simply written with an astonishing maturity, this first novel narrates the story of nineteen-year-old Charlene Boher. Charlene recounts her past from her prison cell, a past which had begun banally enough - a great friendship between herself and Sarah. Charlene, a solitary, unpopular, tortured and breathless adolescent had been 'rescued' by Sarah and they'd developed an intense friendship.

However, when Charlene falls in love with Maxime, the jealous Sarah begins to test and provoke her, to humiliate her in public and reproach her persistently - until she can take it no longer, with disastrous and shocking consequences. This is a very frank and convincing account of a possessive, ambiguous and abusive friendship.