Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr
Deanna Lambert is imprisoned by her past; at the age of thirteen her dad caught her having sex in the back of a car with Tommy, a much older friend of her brothers. Her father has never forgiven her, Tommy told the whole school about the incident, and as so often happens in small towns, no one has forgotten it. Now fifteen, Deanna suffers from low self esteem but keeps herself going with dreams of leaving home and the small beach town she lives in. Her brother Darren and best friend Jason offer moral support. When she gets a job in a pizza place the summer before her junior year, an opportunity for change presents itself and things start to fall into place. Ultimately, Story of a Girl is about the complex nature of forgiveness.
