Finer Points of Becoming Machine

Growing up with a violent, control freak father, sixteen-year-old Emma Banks has had a tougher ride than most. Unable to cope with the horrors of her childhood, Emma's world unravels in a spiral of drug abuse and self-harm. Following a failed suicide attempt, she finds herself committed to a secure psychiatric institution where she is finally forced to confront the painful past she has been trying to escape. Now she must fight the instinct to run and hide, and piece together a way forward.

Cutting Edge is a gritty quick read series for teens and young adults who find conventional fiction irrelevant to them or too hard to read. The new titles in the series tackle contemporary issues such as gun crime, incest, domestic violence, alcohol abuse and mental illness. Packed with drama and emotion from one page to the next, readers will be truly compelled by these gripping and satisfying stories. Carefully chosen fonts, simple layout and controlled vocabulary help carry readers from beginning to end without any hint of chore-factor creeping in.