Forgive Me Not

Film/TV Agents for Forgive Me Not are Jasmine Lake & Mirabel Michelson at UTA (United Talent Agency).

For Press/Media/School Visits: assistant.jbaker@gmail.com

Available Now | Nancy Paulsen Books (Penguin Young Readers)

• Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Young Adult Literature)

• 2023 Best Books for Teens (NYPL)

• 2023 TAYSHAS Reading List (TLA)

• 2023 Best of the Best, Grades 9-12 (BCALA)

• 2024 Noteworthy Books for Children and Teens (Capital Choices)

• 2023 Best Novels (Electric Literature)

“Baker makes a powerful and passionate statement about real justice embedded in a well-constructed plot populated by vivid characters.”—Booklist, starred review

“An important addition to teen library collections; hand to readers looking for inequality and social justice stories.” —School Library Journal

All it took was one night and one bad decision for fifteen-year-old Violetta Chen-Samuels’ life to go off the rails. After driving drunk and causing the accident that kills her little sister, Violetta is incarcerated. As a juvenile offender, her fate is in the hands of those she’s wronged—her family. With their forgiveness, she could go home. But without it? Well…

Denied their forgiveness, Violetta is now left with two options, neither good—remain in juvenile detention for an uncertain sentence or participate in the Trials, potentially regaining her freedom and what she wants most of all, her family’s love. But the Trials are no easy feat and in the quest to prove her remorse, Violetta is forced to confront not only her family’s pain, but her own—and the question of whether their forgiveness is more important than forgiving herself.

Read an excerpt from Forgive Me Not on PenguinTeen.com.