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Table of Contents
About The Book
*A gripping and powerful memoir reminiscent of Notes on a Scandal, An Education and My Dark Vanessa*
'Engaging and engrossing, frank and frankly troubling, Seventeen is a book not easily forgotten' - Karen Joy Fowler
'I can’t remember the last time, if ever, a memoir affected me as deeply as Seventeen' - John Boyne
'A powerful tale of lost youth' - Guardian
'Disturbing, powerful and important' - The Times
It’s 1992. Like every other seventeen-year-old boy, Joe has one eye on his studies, the other on his social life – smoking, Britpop, girls. He’s looking ahead to a gap year full of travel and adventure before university when his teacher – attractive, mid-thirties – takes an interest in him. It seems like a fantasy come true.
For his final two years at school, he is bound to her, a woman twice his age, in an increasingly tangled web of coercion, sex and lies. Their affair, a product of complex grooming and a shocking abuse of authority, is played out in the corridors of one of Britain’s major private schools, under the noses of people who suspected, even knew, but said nothing.
Thirty years on, this is Joe’s gripping record of the illicit relationship that dominated his adolescence and dictated the course of his life. With a heady dose of nineties nostalgia and the perfectly captured mood of those final months at school, Joe charts the enduring legacy of deceit and the indelibility of decisions made at seventeen.
'So compelling and shocking that to read it is to have it seared on to you. I felt like I was there. As gripping a memoir as you’ll find' - David Whitehouse
‘A truly impressive and important book’ - Ali Millar
'A vivid and moving story, grippingly told' - Alex Renton
'I was addicted to this book' - Lily Dunn
'Gripping [...] a powerful read' - Lucy Nichol
'Engaging and engrossing, frank and frankly troubling, Seventeen is a book not easily forgotten' - Karen Joy Fowler
'I can’t remember the last time, if ever, a memoir affected me as deeply as Seventeen' - John Boyne
'A powerful tale of lost youth' - Guardian
'Disturbing, powerful and important' - The Times
It’s 1992. Like every other seventeen-year-old boy, Joe has one eye on his studies, the other on his social life – smoking, Britpop, girls. He’s looking ahead to a gap year full of travel and adventure before university when his teacher – attractive, mid-thirties – takes an interest in him. It seems like a fantasy come true.
For his final two years at school, he is bound to her, a woman twice his age, in an increasingly tangled web of coercion, sex and lies. Their affair, a product of complex grooming and a shocking abuse of authority, is played out in the corridors of one of Britain’s major private schools, under the noses of people who suspected, even knew, but said nothing.
Thirty years on, this is Joe’s gripping record of the illicit relationship that dominated his adolescence and dictated the course of his life. With a heady dose of nineties nostalgia and the perfectly captured mood of those final months at school, Joe charts the enduring legacy of deceit and the indelibility of decisions made at seventeen.
'So compelling and shocking that to read it is to have it seared on to you. I felt like I was there. As gripping a memoir as you’ll find' - David Whitehouse
‘A truly impressive and important book’ - Ali Millar
'A vivid and moving story, grippingly told' - Alex Renton
'I was addicted to this book' - Lily Dunn
'Gripping [...] a powerful read' - Lucy Nichol
Product Details
- Publisher: Gallery UK (July 20, 2023)
- Length: 352 pages
- ISBN13: 9781398522480
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Raves and Reviews
'Engaging and engrossing, frank and frankly troubling, Seventeen is a book not easily forgotten.'
– Karen Joy Fowler
'A fascinating and important dissection of coercion and abuse from deep within it, Joe Gibson’s story is so compelling and shocking that to read it is to have it seared on to you. I felt like I was there. As gripping a memoir as you’ll find’
– David Whitehouse
'An outstanding memoir'
– Lucy Nichol
'Seventeen is a remarkable book, Joe Gibson brings to life a shocking true story that's as compelling as it is urgent. In sharp, evocative prose, he places the reader at the heart of his teenage experience, showing the enduring after-effects of coercive control. An essential insight into the all too often hidden male experience of abuse'
– Ali Millar
'An amazingly courageous book'
– Lily Dunn
'A vivid and moving story, grippingly told. But, more to the point, Gibson's account of how attraction and obsession became exploitation and cover-up is a must-read for anyone involved in the care of adolescents.'
– Alex Renton
'It’s both nostalgic and prescient, looking back at the past while unpacking how much of the present is dictated by the legacy of deceit that at the end of the author’s adolescence.'
– Vice
'A powerful tale of lost youth'
– Guardian
'A gripping tale of forbidden love and irresistible desire'
– The Sun
'I can't recall when, if ever, I've been so affected by a memoir ... A magnificent and, at times, terrifying book'
– John Boyne
'Disturbing, powerful and important'
– The Times
'A coming of age memoir with a difference'
– i
‘…by writing such a brave and honest book, he has given hope to anyone who has suffered any level of abuse. The scar tissue will always be there, and some days it’s a little more sensitive to the touch, but Gibson shows us that survivors can find a path towards peace. I can’t remember the last time, if ever, a memoir affected me as deeply as Seventeen’
– Irish Times
'Riveting'
– Times Literary Supplement
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Seventeen eBook 9781398522480
