Dice

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'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 of The Slap


Four teenage boys invent a sex game based on rolling dice and doing what the numbers say.

They are charged with multiple sexual offences against three teenage girls.


Twelve random jurors are brought together in a trial to work out what actually happened.


Only they can say whether crimes have been committed and who should be punished.


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, aged from eighteen to seventy-two with hugely disparate backgrounds, beliefs and experience, decide whether consent was given or crimes were committed


How can they possibly arrive at a unanimous verdict How will justice be properly served


In this dazzlingly accomplished and gripping debut novel, chapters are told through the point of view of each juror as the trial unfolds. The reader too becomes a jury member as the evidence is presented and information is withheld, fragmented and re-told by different witnesses. Each person must decide where the truth lies.



Will the verdict deliver justice, or just reflect the prejudices and differences in the jury

'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, award-winning author of Remote Sympathy

'An utterly compelling, nuanced and appropriately complex read that effortlessly depicts the unique combination of the sensational and the mundane, which often characterises the criminal trial.' Professor Vanessa Munro, Warwick University

Author Bio

Claire Baylis was born in England and emigrated to New Zealand at sixteen. Her fiction has appeared in Landfall, Sport, Takah, Turbine/Kapohau, anthologised 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 programme targeting low-decile schools.