Aesop Lake (9780999499528)

One warm May night at the town reservoir, seventeen-year-old Leda Keogh sees her boyfriend do something awful. She wants to forget it ever happened, but David needs her to be his alibi—and is willing to destroy her family if she refuses. Trapped, Leda must choose between the truth, her boyfriend, and her family.

Jonathan Tanner-Eales feels like an outsider. He’s gay, and life in rural Vermont hasn’t been as idyllic as he hoped it would be. When Jonathan and his boyfriend, Ricky, are attacked during a night swim, Jonathan manages to escape, but must watch, helpless, as Ricky is beaten. Jonathan, plagued by trauma and fear, wrestles with anger and shame in the aftermath of the crime.

That summer Leda and Jonathan are swept together by chance, and both must reckon with fundamental questions of loyalty and courage. What does it mean to speak the truth when a lie protects the ones you love? Will Leda put the fate of her family and her boyfriend first, or can Jonathan persuade her to tell the truth?