Darkness Before Dawn
Darkness Before Dawn
Hazelwood High Trilogy #3
Darkness Before Dawn, the long-awaited end to the trilogy that began with Tears of a Tiger and continued with Forged by Fire, is here! Sharon M. Draper says that the reason she wrote the third book was because of the hundreds of letters she received from young readers who had embraced the characters in Tears of a Tiger and Forged by Fire. "What happened to Keisha?" they asked. "Did she ever find happiness? And what about Gerald and Angel? How did they cope after the fire? Did Rhonda and Tyrone stay together or break up?" Darkness Before Dawn answers all of these questions and more.
Summary
Keisha, Rhonda, Tyrone, Gerald, and BJ are all seniors this year. Gerald's little sister Angel and Rob's younger sister Kiara are both ninth-graders, excited to be in the first year of high school. Rhonda and Tyrone are still together and trying to deal with the closeness of their relationship. Keisha, lonely and still trying to cope with the loss of Andy, envies what they have. Several new characters add mystery, excitement, and humor to the school year. Jalani, a transfer student, is tall, lovely, and drives her own bright red BMW. Gerald admires her from afar. Leon, the class clown, hides a secret, and Jonathan Hathaway, the principal's son and the new student teacher, becomes much more than the track coach.
Darkness Before Dawn promises to be a strong and satisfying conclusion to the story of a group of characters who have become too real to forget.
Introduction to Darkness Before Dawn
We wait in the darkness for the signal to begin. I wonder what's taking so long. Behind me, I hear somebody whispering. Our silky gowns are rustling softly as we, the graduating seniors, adjust our hats, hair, and nerves. We stand nervously in two lines that curve from the back of the auditorium, out into the hallway, and halfway up a flight of stairs. In alphabetical order for the very last time, the boys in gowns of navy blue, the girls in silver.
I'm one of the first in line because I have to sit on the stage. Even though it's hot, I'm shivering in the darkness, while we wait for the lights to come up to announce the beginning of the ceremony. I close my eyes, but the darkness seems like it's trying to grab me. I blink, and the shadows are breathing on my neck, chasing through my thoughts.
I let the shadows walk me back through the last two years, through loss, pain, death, and humiliation. I've got dark memories of fire and blood running slow-motion through my head. I think about Rob, who died in a car crash in November of our junior year. I think about my Andy, my dear sweet Andy, who left me--left us all--the following April. And I try not to think about my own dark stain that I know will never be erased.
