So Much It Hurts

Iris is an aspiring actress, so when Mick, a well-known visiting Aussie director, takes an interest in her, she's flattered.

He's fourteen years older, attractive, smart, charming and sexy—in other words, nothing like her hapless ex-boyfriend, Tommy. But when Iris and Mick start a secret relationship, she soon witnesses Mick's darker side, and his temper frightens her. Before long, she becomes the target of his rage, but she makes endless excuses for him. Isolated and often in pain, Iris struggles to continue going to school, where she is preparing for her role as Ophelia. When her family and friends begin to realize that something is terribly wrong, Iris defends her man, but she also takes the first tentative steps toward self-preservation.

Monique Polak is the author of over 30 books for young people including Remember This: The Fascinating World of Memory, Open Science: Knowledge for Everyone and What World is Left. She is a three-time winner of the Quebec Writers’ Federation Prize for Children’s and YA Literature, now called the Janet Savage Blachford Prize. Her work has also been nominated for prizes such as the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction and the Arthur Ellis Award. She lives in Montreal.

• Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Books of the YearCommended 2014