Truth Is A Novel
Truth Is A Novel by Hannah V. Sawyerr, published by Abrams, Incorporated in 2025, is a powerful novel in verse that explores the complexities of a young woman’s life as she navigates an unplanned pregnancy. Seventeen-year-old Truth Bangura seeks to escape her challenging circumstances, including a strained relationship with her best friend and a tumultuous home life. Writing and performing poetry serve as her refuge, especially as she faces the uncertainty of her future and the decision to have an abortion after discovering her pregnancy.
In this edition, readers will find a narrative that combines free verse, journal entries, and fill-in-the-blank poetry prompts, allowing for a unique engagement with Truth’s journey. The story delves into themes of family dynamics, friendship, and self-reliance, as Truth grapples with her choices and the repercussions they bring. As her performance at an open mic night goes viral, the intimate details of her life become public, challenging her sense of autonomy and privacy. This novel invites readers to reflect on the importance of choice and hope amid adversity.
Official synopsis Publisher
Longlisted for the 2025 National Book Awards in Young People’s Literature
From the critically acclaimed author of All the Fighting Parts comes an empowering and defiant novel in verse in which a teen poet grapples with an unplanned pregnancy and determines what happens to her body in a world that wants to take the choice away from her.
Seventeen-year-old Truth Bangura wants nothing more than to know a life beyond her hometown. Writing and performing is her only solace in a life overwhelmed by a drifting relationship with her best friend, an emotionally turbulent home environment, and the reality that her below average grades make her true dream–escaping her mother’s grasp after graduation–uncertain.
When Truth learns she’s pregnant by her ex-boyfriend, she makes one decision she’s finally sure about: an abortion.
Determined to move forward, Truth turns to the pages in her notebook with the support of her slam poetry team–including the poet with a voice smooth as summer jazz, who’s been catching her eye during practice.
At an open mic night, Truth finally gains the courage to perform a piece that dives into her rocky relationship with her mother-and reveals the choice she never told her. But when a video of Truth’s performance is posted online and starts going viral, her decision quickly becomes everyone’s business-including her mother’s.
Told through searing free-verse, journal entries, and interspersed fill-in-the-blank poetry prompts, Hannah V. Sawyerr’s Truth Is reminds us there is always a choice. There is always hope. And there is always a way forward.
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