The Burning by Laura Bates

From Goodreads

A rumor is like fire.

Once a whore, always a whore.

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
Anna's a slut.
We all know it's true.

And a fire that spreads online... is impossible to extinguish.

New school. Check.
New town. Check.
New last name. Check.
Social media profiles? Deleted.

Anna and her mother have moved hundreds of miles to put the past behind them. Anna hopes to make a fresh start and escape the harassment she's been subjected to. But then rumors and whispers start, and Anna tries to ignore what is happening by immersing herself in  learning about Maggie, a local woman accused of witchcraft in the seventeenth century. A woman who was shamed. Silenced. And whose story has unsettling parallels to Anna's own.

From Laura Bates, internationally renowned feminist and founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, comes a debut novel for the #metoo era. It's a powerful call to action, reminding all readers of the implications of sexism and the role we can each play in ending it.

My thoughts

This is another one that I am not sure how I originally found out about it, but I reserved a copy from my local Library.

I gave this 4 stars or 8/10.

The angst that teenagers go through trying to fit in and just be one of the crowd, not singled out in any way at all is demonstrated well in this YA story. Laura Bates weaves a story around a young teenager called Anna, who has had to move for some reason and change her identity. It's not apparent at the outset why this has happened, but the reader is drip fed clues and pointers as to what the reason behind all this might be.

It's bad enough trying to fit in when you've lived somewhere all your life, but when you're trying to fit in in an area that you've recently moved into and make new friends it's even harder. Anna doesn't find this transition easy and when things begin to happen that cause people to start whispering about her and rumours start circulating about her past she finds it even harder. No one wants to be singled out in such a way, Anna certainly doesn't she just wanted to fit in and be one of the crowd.

Running along with this story is a historical themed story, that in many ways resonates with what is happening to Anna. Anna is learning about  a period in history when many women were that Folk lore surrounding Witches and the way people were afraid of the unknown and many ladies were inadvertently condemned due to the fear and bigotry of others. This often lead to them being tortured and many losing their lives.

In some ways I felt that Anna, might have been  a reincarnation of Maggie. Maybe, it was due to the way the two stories seemed to mirror one another.

The story deals with lots of topics that are relevant to teenagers: bullying, social media, changes to their bodies and the emotions that are involved, young love and relationships.

I enjoyed this well written story and would happily read more books by this Author.