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Before We Were Innocent

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Before We Were Innocent

Written by: Ella Berman
Narrated by: Jennifer Jill Araya
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About this listen

Reese’s Book Club Pick December 2023

A summer in Greece for three best friends ends in the unthinkable when only two return home. . . .


Ten years ago, after a sun-soaked summer spent in Greece, best friends Bess and Joni were cleared of having any involvement in their friend Evangeline’s death. But that didn’t stop the media from ripping apart their teenage lives like vultures.

While the girls were never convicted, Joni, ever the opportunist, capitalized on her newfound infamy to become a motivational speaker. Bess, on the other hand, resolved to make her life as small and controlled as possible so she wouldn’t risk losing everything all over again. And it almost worked. . . .

Except now Joni needs a favor, and when she turns up at her old friend's doorstep asking for an alibi, Bess has no choice but to say yes. She still owes her. But as the two friends try desperately to shake off their past, they have to face reality.

Can you ever be an innocent woman when everyone wants you to be guilty?

©2023 Ella Berman (P)2023 Penguin Audio
Psychological Suspense Women's Fiction Fiction Summer
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What the critics say

"Two BFFs are accused of murder in this novel that feels like true crime.” —Cosmopolitan

“Ella Berman reveals a teenage girl’s heart of darkness in her absorbing new novel. . . . Written with the urgency and thrill of an illicit secret, Before We Were Innocent captures the pleasures and perils of American girlhood.” —Jillian Medoff, bestselling author of When We Were Bright and Beautiful

“With evocative and astute prose, Berman’s sophomore effort is a…searing portrayal of the intoxicating power of privilege, youth, and female friendship.” —Booklist

What listeners say about Before We Were Innocent

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Awful

The story is unoriginal and uninspiring. The narrator's voice becomes irritating after 20 minutes. This is yet another 'flashback' novel that tells two stories, with some sections set in the past, and the others set in the present, each telling a similar story with the same characters reenacting a life-altering incident from their past. Despite what the large number of fictions written in this style imply, this actually never happens in real life. We don't get do-overs. We just bungle on from one mistake to the next. At any rate, to try to get something resembling a chronological story, I decided to read the sections set in 2008 first, and the sections set in 2018 next. That is far too much work to put into reading what turned out to be a simple novel with next-to-no plot.

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Awful book.

I don't want to review this terrible book. I'm just typing to hit the word minimum.

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