By A-M Mawhiney

(FriesenPress: August 2025)
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Does everyone have secrets?

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When four teens are invited to meet after school with a teacher, the butterfly effect of this one small event soon changes their dreams about their futures. Thrown together to form, of all things, a debate team, the four—Grace, a popular star basketball player, Drew, a privileged hotshot, Ollie, an artistic new student, and Dottie a shy, brilliant loner—seem to have nothing in common. And not one of them believes they have what it takes to be successful debaters.

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Over time, the four teens start helping each other through tough times and begin to realize they are more alike than they thought.

Taking part in a public debate turns out to have unintended consequences that affect the four teens, each in different ways. Then the disappearance of one upends not only the lives of the four teens, but it also creates a ripple effect that shapes, over time, what happens to other people from their communities, their country—and even the world.

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Fugitive Rifts is a compelling and empowering story of coming of age, resilience, and friendship, with emotional passages that are authentic, visceral, and bring the characters to life.