I’ve seen some responses by people who would consider themselves allies lean on victim-blaming rhetoric to justify the visceral reactions they’re having to the book’s contents. “I’m the Girl” offers readers a space where there’s nothing to lose by believing in and empathizing with Georgia, but because she makes painful choices in keeping with her age and maturity level, not all of them will. I wanted readers to have to sit with the myriad ways we uphold rape culture through the eyes of a naïve sixteen-year-old groomed into believing she’s empowered by her abuse. The Epstein case sadly reflects a world that protects and enables abusers at the expense of young girls, and I don’t think it would’ve been appropriate to filter that story through the perspective of anyone else.

Why/how did you decide to write this particular story, and with teen characters? “I’m the Girl” is loosely based on the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, and told through the eyes of a queer teen girl.

But their investigation throws Georgia into a glittering world of unimaginable privilege and wealth and, as Ashley’s killer closes in, she and Nora will discover when money, power, and beauty rule, it’s not always a matter of who is guilty, but who is guiltiest. Thank you! “I’m the Girl” is a lesbian coming-of-age thriller following sixteen-year-old Georgia Avis, who stumbles upon the dead body of thirteen-year-old Ashley James and teams up with Ashley’s older sister-and Georgia’s long-time crush-Nora, to find the killer before he strikes again. I think it’s your best yet! Can you talk a little bit about the book? I am riveted and stunned by “I’m the Girl”, as a queer woman and YA author myself. A post shared by courtney summers (author) a busy schedule, Courtney took the time-after listening to me fangirl-to sit down with GO and talk about queerness, trauma, and the complexities of coming out as a public figure.

Courtney summers books