Based on a real-life story where a 24-year-old Tennessee man was executed for murdering his mother and step-father when he was 13. He had been on drugs and had access to a gun. Perth resident Anne Davies taught English to teenagers for 20 years and found getting teenage boys to read, difficult. So she has written a meaty fiction book for them; a book that has murder, romance and a serious (but not too deep) look at the process someone would go through after murdering two people, at such a young age.
The teenager in Tennessee was put in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day from the age of 15. As he sat on death row, he educated himself, and his cell was full of amazing art. He had changed so much he said that he did not recognise the 13-year-old version of himself, the one who had killed his mother and step-father. Despite big community protests, he was still electrocuted.
I’ve never been in a courtroom room before. There’s something creepy about it….all that old wood everywhere with paneling on the walls, doors and benches —a bit like a coffin. Look at the older codger behind the bench up there. He’s the one who’s finally going to say what happens to me… whether I’m guilty or not. That shouldn’t be too hard. I rang the cops and said I’d killed him–them.
