Trell: Nothing But the Truth

Trell: Nothing But the Truth is a compelling young adult novel inspired by a true story from the late 1980s in Boston. It centers on Trell, a twelve-year-old African-American girl whose father is wrongly convicted of a gang-related shooting. Driven by an unwavering belief in his innocence, Trell persuades a seasoned reporter and a dedicated lawyer to help her investigate the case and expose the truth. This book is ideal for readers aged 12-18, offering a powerful narrative about justice, perseverance, and the profound impact of the legal system on families.

“Trell is an appealingly gutsy heroine whose belief in her father is strong enough to drag an attorney and a down-on-his-luck journalist into her orbit.” — School Library Journal On a hot summer night in Boston in the late 1980s, a twelve-year-old African-American girl was sitting on a mailbox talking with her friends when she became the innocent victim of gang-related gunfire. An immediate manhunt was on to catch the murderer, and a young African-American man was quickly apprehended, charged, and — wrongly — convicted of the crime. Dick Lehr, a former reporter for the Boston Globe’s famous Spotlight Team who investigated this case for the newspaper, now turns the story into a page-turning novel about the daughter of an imprisoned man who persuades a reporter and a lawyer to help her prove her father’s innocence.