I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This - Hardcover

Learning that her new friend, a white girl named Lena, is being sexually abused, Marie, the leader of a group of popular black girls, must decide if she is helping Lena by keeping the secret or telling it.

old Marie is a leader among the popular black girls in Chauncey, Ohio, a prosperous black suburb. She isn't looking for a friend when Lena Bright, a white girl, appears in school. Yet they are drawn to each other because both have lost their mothers. And they know how to keep a secret. For Lena has a secret that is terrifying, and she's desperate to protect herself and her younger sister from their father. Marie must decide whether she can help Lena by keeping her secret...or by telling it.
From the Paperback edition.