Eleven to One: Why I Held Out

One juror. Eleven against him. And a decision no one can make for him.

James Brand thought he understood what it meant to be reasonable.

A senior accounting and IT professional living an ordinary life in Plymouth, Massachusetts, James is called for jury duty in a case that has already attracted national attention. What begins as an obligation quickly becomes something far more difficult: twelve strangers must decide a question that carries consequences they cannot undo.

The evidence is complicated. The testimony doesn't always fit neatly together. Mental illness, intent, memory, law and doubt collide inside a jury room where everyone believes they are taking the responsibility seriously.

Then the first vote is taken.

Eleven to one.

James is the one.

As the deliberations continue, he becomes increasingly convinced that the other jurors are overlooking something important. They listen. They argue. They reconsider. They vote again.

Still eleven to one.

But as James fights to understand why the others won't change their minds, another question begins to emerge:

What if being the only one doesn't mean you're the one who sees clearly?

Eleven to One: Why I Held Out is a literary legal thriller about reasonable doubt, memory, identity, marriage, and the dangerous space between conviction and certainty.

It is also a story about what happens after the courtroom doors close — when the person who refused to change his mind has to live with the possibility that he might have been wrong.

A note about the novel

Eleven to One: Why I Held Out is a work of fiction inspired by publicly reported real events.

The underlying criminal case and certain publicly reported facts are real. The novel itself is not a transcript, documentary, or factual reconstruction.

James Brand and the other jurors are fictional characters. Their private thoughts, conversations, deliberations, relationships, actions, and reactions are invented. Other scenes, dialogue, details, and events have been imagined or fictionalized for purposes of the novel.

Any interpretation of a real person's thoughts, motives, or private conduct is fictional and should not be taken as fact.

What you'll receive

Your purchase includes both digital editions:

• EPUB — optimized for phones, tablets, e-readers and ebook apps
• PDF — fixed-layout edition for desktop, tablet and other PDF readers

Launch price: £3.99