Troubled Lives

Mary Zest, a high school freshman, is constantly ridiculed and humiliated by her classmates, who fail to understand the abuse she suffers at home from her mother and sister. But Mary has a secret weapon - an extraordinary ability to create complex Gothic drawings. When she meets Robert, another misfit who loves to write horror stories, the two plan an elaborate plot to take revenge against their tormentors. But the plot spins out of control when Mary realizes that Robert is in love with another girl, and suddenly lethal force seems like the only way out of her torment. An engrossing cautionary tale with elements of sex and violence, for mature young readers.