Philippa Cameron - books

The Day We Are Born: There’s nothing funny about depression. At least,16-year-old Elle’s parents don’t think so. And Elle? It’s her sense of humor and her foul-mouthed best friend Libby that keep her going as she deals with her depression, diagnosed three years earlier after Elle announced to her parents that she thought she’s supposed to be dead. Who can blame them, then, for being a little fearful for her?

The story is told in Elle’s voice, and we follow her over a week as she and Libby - with a liberal dose of ironic high fives, really bad German, swearing (Libby), eye kissing (Elle), and a boy called Sam - plot how they're going to get to a music festival to see their favorite band. Elle and Libby have made a pact to not get involved with boys. Libby has her reasons, and Elle doesn't have the energy for a boyfriend; she needs all she's got to get through the day. But when the boy is Sam, does she even have a choice? Because something weird keeps happening every time they’re in the same room…

The biggest problem they have in planning their road trip to the festival is how to persuade Elle's parents to let her out of their sight. Elle struggles to make her parents understand what she needs: that they have to let her go - and she doesn't mean only to the concert.

The Day We Are Born is the first stand-alone book in the Elements series. The second book in the Elements series will be out in early 2015. Look out for the free novella, So We Beat On, coming soon...