Personalize Your Library Experience

When you choose your preferred branches and age groups, the site will automatically filter the content to match your selections.

Select Your Branches

Select Your Age Groups

This information will be saved as a cookie, and cannot be connected to a library login or transferred between computers

icon of stars; highlighting that you can open the select favorite branch overlay Save & Close
Return to All Blog Posts
Back to Top

“Before We Were Innocent” by Ella Berman

About Blog Post Feb 12, 2024 by SCLSNJ Staff
“Before We Were Innocent” by Ella Berman Review by by Yvonne Selander, collection development librarian A decade ago three teenagers spent their last summer before college in Greece. It was supposed to be the summer that solidified their friendship. But the summer is proving to be rocky at best with personalities clashing and the cloud of separation hanging over them as the end of summer nears. The petty grievances reach a head, and suddenly Evangeline is dead. By the end of the week Bess and Joni are being vilified by the media as entitled, man-crazy, mean girls who murdered their friend. Over time Bess and Joni are acquitted and return to the U.S., fall out of touch, and go their very separate ways. Bess retreats to an almost hermit-like existence, while Joni uses her notoriety to launch a self-help/empowerment empire. One night Joni turns up on Bess’s doorstep needing help. But it sounds strangely like that night in Greece a decade before is playing itself out again. Innocent until proven guilty may be the correct sentiment for those at the center of an investigation, but the court of public opinion is harsh and horrible. These are teenage girls who posted things online that may not have been the smartest things to post. They may not have been good friends to Evangaline but she was being really annoying forcing Bess and Joni to do what she wanted since they were staying in her family’s villa. Did they criticize her less than kindly? Yep. Did they hate her a little? Probably. Does that make them guilty of anything more than being a bad friend? The next time one of these tragedies hits the newscycle and the maligned are exonerated, readers of this book will start thinking about what is next for these people who suddenly find the spotlight is off of them, but their lives are forever changed.
chat loading...