Red Tears

At the beginning of this book there is a warning. A very serious warning. This book tackles a very real problem from a personal eye. Self-harm is often shown as something that people do for attention, or a ‘teenage phrase’. It isn’t either.

I open the box.
Inside it is softness and steel. Tissues and blades.
I carefully remove a blade and lay it to one side. Then I take out six tissues and place them by my arm, ready.
I stretch out my left arm, examining it for a spare patch of skin.
A patch not already marked by scars.

Joanna Kenrick’s Red Tears is a book about a subject not normally written about-self-harm. Emily Bowyer’s life seems perfect on the surface. Yet, without warning, things begin to go downhill. Her friends desert her, her family becomes preoccupied with her brother, and everyone tells her to concentrate on your GCSEs. Unable to cope with the pressure to be perfect, Emily turns to self-harm. She needs the pain to see clearly but she soon finds that once she’s started, she can’t stop. It is private, a secret. How could she deal with people finding out? When one person does discover her secret the reaction isn’t quite what she expected. What happens when, that night, the peace the pain usually gives doesn’t appear? And then, to add insult to injury, how could she deal with her painful release being used by someone else, someone with a very painful secret of their own?

An emotional tale of finding your true self in times of pressure. A story everyone, self-harmer or not, can relate to. A story that changes your perspective on everything.