Jenny Downham Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Jenny Downham is a published British author. She is not only a novelist but a former actor as well.

Downham was born in 1964. She has two sons and currently resides in the city of London.

Downham first made it into print in 2007 with her debut fictional novel, titled Before I Die. The book also goes by the alternative title, Now Is Good. This is a made up account of a young girl in her teens and the last months of her life as she dies from leukemia. She has been suffering with leukemia for the past four years. The story is related to the reader in the first person and focuses on the nature of being alive.

The book did well and made the short list for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize in 2007. It was nominated for Book of the Year by Lancashire Children in 2008. It also was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and Booktrust Teenage Prize. It won the Branford Boase Award in 2008.

Before I Die was made into a feature film in 2012 that was based on the novel called Now Is Good. The dramatic story featured plenty of romance, and Downham was an associate producer on the project. The movie starred Dakota Fanning as Tessa Scott and Jeremy Irvine as Adam. The film is rated PG-13 and runs for an hour and forty-three minutes. It was directed by Ol Parker. The plot focuses around a girl planning out all the various things that she wants to do before she ends up leaving the earth. At the top of the list is her wish to lose her virginity.

The second novel to come out from this author is titled You Against Me. The book came out in December of 2010. It is a stirring novel that focuses on themes such as loyalty and family as well as choices that once made can affect people for the rest of their lives. The third fictional novel to come out from Downham was released in 2015. It is titled Unbecoming. This tells the story of different women that come from three generations and the secrets from the family that come out. She also has written Furious Thing, her fourth novel, which came out in 2019 and is a young adult fictional read. It made the shortlist for the Costa Book Awards in 2019.

Jenny has also acted in addition to being a writer. She was featured on television series Screen One in 1989 as character Jane Whitehouse. Downham was also in the 1992 television series Poirot playing Anne Giselle. She was also in the 1998 film Basil where she portrayed Anna, who is married to Ralph. Her last project was a short called Safer in 1999, about a mother that attempts to keep her son safe.

Before I Die is the first novel to come out from author Jenny Downham. If you are a fan of The Fault In Our Stars or similar books, be sure to check out this dramatic and often touching story about a girl with not so long to live.

What would you do if you had been sick for a long time and now have to face the mortality of your existence? That’s the question that main character Tessa has to grapple with and has had to for months. She’s been fighting against leukemia for years now, and is discovering that after all of that struggle, she now has only months left to live.

It’s a devastating diagnosis, and one that Tessa does not take lightly. She’s still having to deal with a lot. There are the constant trips to the hospital as well as the seemingly endless barrage of tests that she has to go through. Not to mention that she’s taking drugs that come with their own horrible list of side effects that she must deal with.

In the face of all of this, Tessa decides that she’s going to make a list of all the things that she wants to do before she dies. Naturally, one of them is deciding to lose her virginity. Actually, having sex is right at the top of her list. She doesn’t want to go to her grave having never experienced it. She’s no longer operating in the timeline of normalcy, and she has to accept that she’s just not going to have that typical average life that everyone else but her seems to be blessed with.

Tessa wants nothing more than to feel alive, especially with a body that is failing on her. Her emotions are everywhere, and everything that she does, says, or feels in the upcoming weeks will end up being the defining things of her life. Now is the time for her to spend time with those she loves, from her brother and father, to an estranged relationship with her mother, to hanging out with her best friend and even boyfriend.

Everything that she does will be set into the hall of time. Once her time is up and out, she has no more. It’s a lot for a young girl to navigate, but Tessa does her best in this painful yet uplifting and inspiring novel from Jenny Downham. Check it out and read to the very last page to absorb every moment for yourself!

You Against Me is the second novel to come out from author Jenny Downham. This is the story of Mikey and his sister. When he finds out that she is saying she was assaulted by a boy, it doesn’t take long for his reality to start falling apart. Should he go after revenge, believing what his sister says?

Then a girl named Ellie finds out that her brother was charged with assault. Her world similarly turns upside down. When the two of them eventually meet up, it’s going to be a collision of their respective worlds. What will happen, and will the two stand by their family? Focusing on choice and loyalty, this is a unique story that you won’t want to miss.