Everything I Couldn’t Tell My Mother is a coming-of-age story for any woman who has ever questioned her sexual maturity and readiness, stayed silent at a time when she should have spoken up or accepted treatment that was less than what she deserved.
Aaliyah Panarese is the teenage daughter of successful, overprotective parents who want the best for her but rarely consider her hopes and dreams. Under the matriarchal rules of her abusive mother, Aaliyah is expected to, without question, follow in her footsteps and attend law school after she graduates from high school. Frustrated and too cowardly to express her dreams of becoming a writer, she escapes life’s harsh realities by journaling heartfelt letters to her mother inside a diary, hoping that one day they will be the keys to rebuilding trust and strengthening the emotional connection that is lacking between them.
In a desperate attempt to find her voice, and feel accepted and loved, she befriends Stacy, Tonja and Manny—the most rebellious girls at her school. Aaliyah follows the crowd, breaks her parents’ rules and is quickly thrown into a battlefield marked with peer pressure, self-loathing, sexual discovery and broken friendships. Her journey takes dramatic twists and turns while delivering a cautionary tale that is grounded in the reality of what it is to be a teenager in today’s instant-access generation.
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