Any Girl

That she can stop a rapist never occurs to July Abraham until she falls over a classmate, Andie, in the gardens at Mark’s party. Finding Andie shatters the lie that silenced July. Now she knows this man attacks any girl because he can; people back away from him; bow down to him, even the cops leave him alone.

In the cold of that dark garden, with Andie unconscious in her arms, July resolves to stop him. She does not have wheels, friends, a fortified castle, or an AK-47. She cannot wage war. But she does know what parts of him look like, she can name the boys from her high school in his gang, and, unlike him, she has nothing to lose. If she protects even one more girl, her task will have been worth it.

British born, South African educated, her Alma Mater is The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Gauteng. As a high school teacher, she taught the full spectrum of classrooms from a wealthy Johannesburg all boys private school to a crowded, inner city Pretoria government school. She volunteered as a Crisis Intervention counsellor for Life Line International. In 1998 she moved to Canada, became a Canadian citizen, and had time to concentrate on her writing. In 2003 her short story ?Heart Space? made the short list of the CBC Literary Awards. In 2006 ?Across the Edge? reached the Top Ten of the Lichen Arts and Letters Preview, International Fiction Contest: Writing between the Lines. She lives in Beaumont, Alberta.