Dice

A compelling courtroom drama, Dice is an incredibly timely exploration of how sexual violence is viewed in our society.

’Dice has a forensic depth that is compelling, that challenges and deeply moves the reader. But what sets this novel apart is the precision and power of the writing. This is fiction that doesn’t want to be journalism, it affirms the truth and nuance and possibility of imagination.’ Christos Tsiolkas, author, The Slap

Four teenage boys invent a sex game based on the toss of a dice.The police charge them with multiple sexual offenses against three teenage girls.
Twelve jurors must work out what actually happened.
How does the jury find?

Dice is a stunning courtroom drama told from the perspective of a diverse group of ordinary people - the jury. How will twelve women and men of different ages, backgrounds and beliefs decide whether consent was given or crimes were committed?

In this dazzlingly accomplished and gripping debut novel, the story is told through the eyes of each juror as the trial unfolds and evidence is presented, withheld, fragmented and retold by different witnesses.

Will the verdict deliver justice or punish the innocent? Where does the truth lie?

’Dice achieves what the best fiction achieves: it draws us into the story on a deeply personal level, coaxing us to consider what we would do in the same situation ... the moving and powerful final moment delivers a sense of narrative completion while also reminding us of the flawed nature of the justice system.’ Catherine Chidgey, author, Pet

Claire Baylis was born in England and emigrated to New Zealand at sixteen. Her fiction has appeared in Landfall, Sport, Takah?, Turbine/Kapohau, anthologized in Horizons 4 and has been read on Radio New Zealand. Dice is her first novel to be published. It was written as part of a PhD in creative writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington/Te Herenga Waka and was included on the Dean’s List for being of the highest academic excellence. Claire studied law and then lectured in it for twelve years at Victoria University of Wellington/Te Herenga Waka before moving to Rotorua with her family. There she wrote, brought up her three children, worked as an interviewer and researcher for the Trans-Tasman Jury Study and set up a water safety program targeting low-decile schools.