Em’s older sister, Nor (Elinor), was raped during a frat party her freshman year of college. One year later, despite attempts to discredit Nor, her attacker is found guilty on all charges. Then the judge sentences him to time served. Em (Marianne) doesn’t know what to do with her rage, or her guilt, having convinced Nor to push for a full trial. Everywhere Em turns in Seattle she sees signs of the patriarchy and rape culture prevailing, while her effort to counter the continued online slander of her sister only makes things worse. The stress and tension has frayed the fabric of their family. Em learns about Marguerite de Bressieux from classmate Jess. Marguerite, a young 15 ^th -century French noblewoman raped during the pillage of her father’s estate, trained as a knight and took revenge on her rapists. Em becomes obsessed with writing a story about Marguerite, poems that white, genderqueer Jess, an artist seeking refuge with Nor’s family from their parents’ bitter divorce, begins illuminating like medieval manuscripts. These poems and drawings are interspersed through the primary prose narrative following the contemporary characters. Nor’s family includes her Guatemalan immigrant dad, who turned from a doctorate in poetry to plumbing to help support them, and her white, literature professor mom. Untangling their messy, complicated feelings surrounding the trauma of Nor’s rape and its impact on all of them is powerful, and essential to their healing as individuals and a family. (Age 13 and older)

From the author of the acclaimed Blood Water Paint, a new contemporary YA novel in prose and verse about a girl struggling with guilt and a desire for revenge after her sister's rapist escapes with no prison time.

Em Morales's older sister was raped by another student after a frat party. A jury eventually found the rapist guilty on all counts--a remarkable verdict that Em felt more than a little responsible for, since she was her sister's strongest advocate on social media during the trial. Her passion and outspokenness helped dissuade the DA from settling for a plea deal. Em's family would have real justice.

But the victory is short-lived. In a matter of minutes, justice vanishes as the judge turns the Morales family's world upside down again by sentencing the rapist to no prison time. While her family is stunned, Em is literally sick with rage and guilt. To make matters worse, a news clip of her saying that the sentence makes her want to learn "how to use a sword" goes viral.

From this low point, Em must find a new reason to go on and help her family heal, and she finds it in the unlikely form of the story of a fifteenth-century French noblewoman, Marguerite de Bressieux, who is legendary as an avenging knight for rape victims.

We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire is a searing and nuanced portrait of a young woman torn between a persistent desire for revenge and a burning need for hope.