• Age: 10 to 18
• Grade: 5 to 12

Sixteen-year-old Katie had just begun a year in Paris with her family when she died suddenly. Her family was devastated, but they drew comfort from Katie’s extensive e-mail correspondence to her many friends. In page after page, her family read how Katie explored the nature of friendship, her belief in God, and her desire to understand what constitutes real love among friends.

Award-winning author Julie Johnston has brought together Katie’s correspondence. The result is both a testament to a girl who had so much to offer – and more important, perhaps – a blueprint for real sisterhood.

JULIE JOHNSTON is the author of five novels for young people, two of which won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Text in Children’s Literature. Her work has received numerous awards and accolades throughout North America, including the IODE National Book Award, the Ruth Schwartz Young Adult Book Award and starred reviews in such publication as Publisher’s Weekly, Quill & Quire and the School Library Journal. As If by Accident is her first novel for adults. The mother of four grown daughters, Julie Johnston lives with her husband in Peterborough, Ontario.

Julie Johnston's profile page

“The poignancy of this book is almost unbearable…a remarkable portrait of a sensitive, sparklingly alive, spiritually aware teen-ager, and a testament to friendship and the capacity for it that Katie and her friends had and so enjoyed. What a gift it was – and is.”
–The Globe and Mail

“This is the real stuff of adolescent friendship that is so important to teenage girls. It’s a real-life tragedy, and a gripping read.”
–School Library Journal

“Although she professes a ‘philosophical’ bent, Katie is a regular teenager, and herein lies the poignant force of this unusual book. Reading through her lively affectionate confidences, one can’t help but enjoy the promise of her inner life, even while lamenting her death.”
–The Toronto Star
“Although Katie died in October, 1996, she lives on in the hearts of her family and friends and now in a book.”
–Calgary Herald