Sometimes justice isn’t enough. Clare Edge’s Natural Selection (Delacorte, Aug. 25), Rimma Onoseta’s The Revenge Playbook (Little, Brown, out now), and Rebecca Stafford’s The Ending You Deserve (Quill Tree, Sept. 1) are part of a slate of summer YA novels in which predators and abusers become unsuspecting prey. In each book, the female protagonists are not waiting for anyone to come save them, even if that means they risk becoming a bit of a monster themselves. Here, the authors reflect on challenging readers to consider the blurred line between revenge and justice and prioritizing healing above all else.

Clare Edge

This novel falls into the category of women seeking justice at any cost. Were there any other works in this subgenre that inspired you?

I am utterly obsessed with novels that celebrate women’s wrongs. It truly might be my all-time favorite niche. A few books that inspired the ruthlessness of Natural Selection are Here Lies a Vengeful Bitch by Codie Crowley, They Never Learn by Layne Fargo, The Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska, and Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough.

And a few books that absolutely would have further inspired me if they’d been published before I was writing are Honeysuckle by Bar Fridman-Tell, So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison, A Good Person by Kirsten King, and Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang.

The three protagonists of your novel have their differences but come together when they realize they share a trauma. How did you want to capture the experience of finding community in pain?

It was incredibly important to me that this be a book about girls coming together. I have found so much common ground—so much camaraderie and shared trust and love—with people who have had similar hurts to my own, and that was something I wanted to explore in Natural Selection. Pain can isolate, but it can also forge incredible bonds. Often, there is an immediate, and complicated, kinship that is born from shared pain. There was never a version of this story where the terrible men tore these girls apart; it was always going to be a story about how they come together, and the immense power they wield when they do.

Would you describe this as a revenge novel—why or why not?

Yes! I think Natural Selection is a revenge novel, but not in the way it first appears to be. The plot hinges on these three girls taking revenge on the terrible boy who hurt them all in different ways, but that is really where the story begins, not ends. It is the realization that the revenge doesn’t stop with one boy, that the hurt isn’t only individual, but systemic, that makes this a somewhat kaleidoscopic revenge story to me. Revenge is often more complicated than we think, and quite often it leaves a sour taste in our mouths that we never quite expected when we set out to get it.

Natural Selection by Clare Edge. Delacorte, Aug. 25 $19.99; ISBN 979-8-217-11745-1

Rimma Onoseta

The two stars of your novel are vastly different, but come together when they realize that the same boy has caused them harm. How did you want to capture the experience of finding community in pain?

We don’t have to be the same to experience the world the same way. I wanted to write a story about two very different girls wanting the same thing while navigating the written and unwritten rules of school and society at large. Uyai is confident and prideful while Fiyin is meek and tries her best not to be noticed, yet they both must deal with the double standards girls learn to live with from a young age; they both have their bodies scrutinized and put up for debate. Uyai’s confidence and Fiyin’s meekness don’t protect them from a society that weaponizes shame and polices young girls’ bodies.

Would you describe the actions the girls take as revenge or justice, or both?

Their actions are solely about revenge. It’s not about restoring balance using established laws; it is about inflicting harm. Justice would have been letting the principal deal with the antagonist according to the rules and regulations of the school. Uyai had the opportunity to follow the path of justice, but she chose revenge. Kola’s humiliation was her motivation. While Fiyin’s motivations aren’t as straightforward, and she sometimes tries to pull back out of fear of the consequences, she too is driven by the need to cause distress to those who hurt her.

How does this novel offer healing for the characters?

Fiyin’s healing comes through friendship, because most of her pain comes from loneliness. A partner in crime is still a partner, which is a dynamic that Fiyin has never really had. Fiyin and Uyai get close during their scheming, and proximity has a way of bringing forth honesty. Uyai’s willingness to tap into the darker parts of herself makes her a surprisingly non-judgmental confidante and that gives Fiyin the space to be honest about her past in a way she has never been before.

Uyai’s healing comes from rebellion. Her hair was taken from her to shame her, and she turned her bald head into a crown. Kola tried to embarrass her, and she turns it back on him. She is a person who prides herself on resilience—on getting back up after being knocked down.

The Revenge Playbook by Rimma Onoseta. Little, Brown, out now, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-643-751924

Rebecca Stafford

Ava’s introduction to her classmate Love showcases how far some will go to manipulate the perceptions of their victims. Why was this important to depict?

For me, it was important to show how an abuser controls their victims by shaping their reality, and how hard they work to ensure that their victims won’t be believed. Ava is encouraged to see Love as troubled and needing rescue. This framing gets Ava to override her own conscience; she’s lying to Love, but it’s “for her own good.” At the same time, we can see how he’s setting Love up to be disbelieved, not only by Ava but by anyone Love might tell.

Ava is put in a difficult position when she discovers the truth about an abuser at their school. How did you want to showcase the nuances of telling the truth?

Ava faces a moral dilemma: telling her truth could expose Love’s, who isn’t ready to come forward. Ava wants to respect Love’s wishes, but she also knows that staying silent could leave other girls at risk. Many survivors face impossible choices like this, and I don’t think there are easy answers.

How does this novel offer healing for the characters?

Justice is rarely the end of the story when it comes to abuse. But Love and Ava find some solace through taking action, for themselves and for others. By reclaiming their agency, they don’t just change their own circumstances but the institution itself, helping to prevent this from happening to the next girl.

The Ending You Deserve by Rebecca Stafford. Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins, Sept. 1, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-063-351417