Little, Ashley

Abby Furlowe, a popular cheerleader, notices some spots on her skin that she writes off as a rash, but things only get worse. After a fall in cheerleading she slips into a coma and gets diagnosed as having Hansen's Disease, aka leprosy. During recovery she is faced with an uncertain future, and the realization that she doesn't like the person she was prior to being sick.

Cast out by mainstream society, a gang of teenage girls known as the "Black Roses" rob ATMs, cook crack on stoves, and savagely beat down anyone who dares to harm them. Brutal and broken, they claw at the knot of darkness and violence that tightens around their lives.

Teenager Tamar Robinson deals with the death of her sisters and the subsequent loss of her hair.