2018 School Spending Survey Report
DEBUT It’s the last night of a family vacation at a French campground during the worst heat wave the country has seen in recent history. Seventeen-year-old Leonard wanders onto the playground in time to see Oscar, another teen he knows casually, deliberately hanging himself on the ropes of a swing. Paralyzed by horror, Leonard remains motionless until Oscar is dead. Leonard’s next terrible, inexplicable actions—he buries the body in the sand and keeps Oscar’s cell phone—set off a series of escalating disastrous events. His guilt over his passive complicity in Oscar’s death battles with his raging hormones, triggered by a young female camper who is pursuing him. The weight of Leonard’s guilt builds to an unbearable intensity as a dangerous storm heads toward shore.
VERDICT As a 25-year-old, Jestin stunned France with this debut novel, which captured the prestigious Prix Femina des Lycéens in 2019. Six years out from his teen years, he had forgotten nothing about the messiness of adolescence and how quickly bad choices can turn to tragedy. From its first sentence to its last, this short novel packs an outsize, unforgettable punch.
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