HELEN SCHULMAN This Beautiful Life ****

This reminded me of Christoph Tsiolkas’s ‘The Slap (see below) – in that it looks at the potent consequences of one tiny action.

It’s set in New York. 15-year-old Jake goes to a party where a 13-year-old girl tries to get him to have sex with her. He tells her she’s too young. When she emails him an explicit video of herself, with the message, “Do you still think I’m too young?” he unthinkingly forwards it to his best friend – who forwards it to other school friends. In next to no time it’s gone viral and scandal envelops Jake and his family.

It’s a powerful story that touches on loads of contemporary issues.