Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You (Paperback)

Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You is renowned author Joyce Carol Oates's newest novel for teens. Laurie Halse Anderson, bestselling author of Wintergirls and Speak, said that "the painful honesty of this book will crack open your heart."

Senior year, their last year together, Merissa and Nadia need their best friend Tink more than they ever did before. They have secrets they can share with no one but her, toxic secrets that threaten to unravel their friendship—and themselves. Tink had a secret, too, a big one, but no one knows what it was. And now she's gone. . . .

In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews described Joyce Carol Oates as "a master at portraying the inner lives of teens." In Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You, she's created a powerful portrayal of a friendship strong enough to transcend death.

This raw, unflinching novel peels back the layers of perfection to reveal the darkness beneath.

• Toxic Secrets: Merissa is the perfect student, but she hides a painful, dangerous habit. Nadia is reeling from online rumors and a crush that’s gone too far. Their secrets push them to the breaking point.
• Cutting and Self-Harm: A hauntingly honest look at why a girl who seems to have it all would turn to self-harm to cope with unbearable pressure and a family falling apart.
• Teen Grief: The girls are haunted by the ghost of their brilliant, troubled friend Tink, trying to piece together the truth of why she left them.
• Prep School Drama: Set against the backdrop of competitive Quaker Heights Day School, where college applications and social status create a pressure-cooker environment.

Joyce Carol Oates is a recipient of the National Medal of Humanities, the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Book Award, and the 2019 Jerusalem Prize, and has been several times nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. She has written some of the most enduring fiction of our time, including the national bestsellers We Were the Mulvaneys; Blonde, which was nominated for the National Book Award; and the New York Times bestseller The Falls, which won the 2005 Prix Femina. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978.