Touch

Francine Prose

Harper Collins, Jun 16, 2009 - Young Adult Fiction - 272 pages

What really happened at the back of the bus?

Did they, or didn't they?

Did she, or didn't she?

Something happened to fourteen-year-old Maisie Willard—something involving her three friends, all boys. But their stories don't match, and the rumors spin out of control. Then other people get involved . . . the school, the parents, the lawyers. The incident at the back of the bus becomes the center of Maisie's life and the talk of the school, and, horribly, it becomes news. With just a few words and a touch, the kids and their community are changed forever.

From nationally acclaimed author Francine Prose comes an unforgettable story about the difficulties of telling the truth, the consequences of lying, and the most dangerous twist of all—the possibility that you yourself will come to believe something that you know isn't true.

Contents

• Section 1: 1
• Section 2: 11
• Section 3: 16
• Section 4: 29
• Section 5: 40
• Section 6: 49
• Section 7: 66
• Section 8: 71
• Section 9: 82
• Section 10: 90
• Section 11: 94
• Section 12: 106
• Section 13: 113
• Section 14: 118
• Section 15: 149
• Section 16: 181
• Section 17: 201
• Section 18: 216
• Section 19: 226
• Section 20: 258
• Section 21: 264
• Section 22: 266
• Section 23: 267
• Section 24: 270

About the author

Francine Prose is the author of twenty-two works of fiction including the highly acclaimed The Vixen; Mister Monkey; the New York Times bestseller Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932; A Changed Man, which won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize; and Blue Angel, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her works of nonfiction include the highly praised Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife, and the New York Times bestseller Reading Like a Writer, which has become a classic. The recipient of numerous grants and honors, including a Guggenheim and a Fulbright, a Director’s Fellow at the Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, Prose is a former president of PEN American Center, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a Distinguished Writer in Residence at Bard College.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Touch
• Author: Francine Prose
• Publisher: Harper Collins, 2009
• ISBN: 0061920134, 9780061920134
• Length: 272 pages
• Subjects: Young Adult Fiction / Social Themes / Depression; Young Adult Fiction / Social Themes / Friendship; Young Adult Fiction / Social Themes / General; Young Adult Fiction / Social Themes / Peer Pressure; Young Adult Fiction / Social Themes / Sexual Abuse