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About The Book

The Queen’s Gambit meets The Hunger Games in this “brisk and brutal…harrowing and intriguing” (Kirkus Reviews) novel about a teen girl whose abusive father teaches her the finer points of chess and hunting, all for his own sinister ends…drawn from the author’s own experiences.

For forever, Didi has had to be the best at anything her father demanded of her—the fastest runner, the master at chess, able to take down a deer with a bow and arrow at a dead sprint. If she fails, he denies her food. Clothes. Kindness. Yet he claims he loves her—he says he does—it’s why he pushes her. To be ready. Prepared. For anything. Ready to fight. Ready to…

…Didi is terrified of what he may one day ask.

But she might be more prepared than her father ever expected.

Excerpt

Hunt
Little rabbit in the wood

About The Author

Courtsey of the author

N. Griffin is the author of The Whole Stupid Way We Are, for which she was named one of Publishers Weekly’s Flying Start Authors of 2013, as well as Just Wreck It All, Smashie McPerter and The Mystery of Room 11, Smashie McPerter and the Mystery of the Missing Goop, and Trigger. She received her MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books (May 17, 2023)
  • Length: 272 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781534487185
  • Ages: 14 - 99

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Raves and Reviews

Harrowing and intriguing.

– Kirkus Reviews, 1/15/2022

An intense read.

– School Library Journal, 6/1/2022

Awards and Honors

  • ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers

Resources and Downloads

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More books from this author: N. Griffin