I don't want to be here

Abstract

I Don't Want to Be Here is novel that explores questions of consent, ethics, mother-daughter relationships, and community through the lens of the Oak School when it becomes involved in a Me Too scandal. Helen Mathews, a teacher and administrator at Oak and one of the novel's protagonists, is accused of failing to act on knowledge of a student-teacher relationship that occurred in the early 2000s. She is forced to confront the judgment of the school community and her understanding of herself. Meanwhile, her daughter Turtle navigates the ups and downs of senior year and tries to figure out who she is both in relationship to and apart from her mother and the Oak School.