Acknowledgement of Country
I want to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land this story was written on: the Wulgurukaba and Bindal people. I pay my respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging. I extend that respect to any other Aboriginal peoples, Torres Strait Islander Peoples, and First Nations Peoples from which my readers read this story on.
Disclaimer
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblences to people's lives are purely coincidental. Nonetheless, I do acknowledge that many of the themes I explore in this text have been loosely inspired by stories of people I've been close to, met briefly, or heard spoken of through gossip.
While the setting of this text is inspired by a familiar one of my childhood, it in no way captures the actual lived experiences of the surrounding schools or people in such areas. These are purely fictional.
Age Reading Recommendation:
15+ : Mild profanity (see content Warnings)
Other Books
This is the first book in the 'Fighting for' series. The books go:
1. Fighting for April
2. Fighting for Evie
3. Fighting for Now
Content Warnings:
This book explores a number of heavy themes and events that can shape the lives of young individuals, especially those who come from low socioeconomic backgrounds. All serious themes and triggering events are handled with care and are, in no way, glorified in this text. Nonetheless, if any of the following themes are likely to trigger you, please click away from this book:
- Sex: (one 'steamy' scene with no explicit description and other references made). Many teens have sex and I didn't want to shy away from the topic. Nonetheless, this book does not contain smut. It only includes the healthy conversations that may occur during the activity.
- Swearing: Some use of profanity throughout the text, though not common.
- Alcohol abuse: Brief references made in reference to other characters (though emphasised as problematic)
- Drug abuse: Two brief references made (though emphasised as dangerous)
- Child abuse: Very briefly hinted at during three points of the novel (abuse encompasses the bruising of a child)
- Depression (self-harm and suicide): One brief mention to the topic of suicide and self-harm, though not glorified.
Reading Directions
This is a non-linear story, in that there's three story lines told at the same time:
Before: Taking place in the years 2010-2014, when May is 10-14 and April is 13-17. These chapters slowly decrease as the story goes on and May learns to let go of her life before.
Then: Taking place in a six month period of 2014 (starting just where the end of before leaves), when May is 14 and April is 17. These chapters only appear every seven chapters as waves of what happened Then still overweigh May and her actions.
After: Taking place in 2016, when May is 16 and April is 19. This is the main storyline.
Read chapters in the order they are published and assume all questions you have on the different storylines will be answered along the way.
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