Fear of Falling

In Fear of Falling Maddie Hickman is sixteen, and fresh off the worst year of her life, which includes not one but two ex-boyfriends. Maddie swears off love and her once-beloved self-help books, and spends her afterschool hours editing the school paper and banging out weepy poems—until the gray March morning a letter arrives, addressed to her. “Anonymous” is a student at Maddie’s school, and a guy who likes a guy who suddenly hates him. Terrified of being caught by parents, peers, and the boy who now loathes him: a jock with everything to lose if he’s outed to their homophobic high school, Anonymous pleads for Maddie’s help.

The letter forces Maddie to step out of her grief and into the real world, and she soon finds herself imploring the school’s administration to publish an article protesting homophobia. When they refuse, she decides she has to go outside the lines to help Anonymous and other gay students. But even with her friends’ help, how far is she willing to go? Will she and her friends jeopardize their good standing? Their friendships with each other? Their safety.

Fear of Falling
Maddie Hickman is sixteen, and fresh
off the worst year of her life.