Exit, Pursued by a Bear

Exit, Pursued by a Bear is a young adult novel for teenaged readers by E.K. Johnston about Hermione Winters, whose life is turned upside down when she is drugged and raped at cheer camp, getting pregnant from the assault. As the captain of the cheerleading team in the small town of Palermo Heights, where cheer is everything, Hermione goes from being the queen bee to being a pariah as the pregnant girl who everyone judges for her actions. The novel follows Hermione as she struggles to reclaim her life and her identity after the assault, pulling from references to Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale.

Structured in four parts, the novel takes place in the small town of Palermo Heights, where cheerleading is the number one attraction for parents and high schoolers alike. The team always goes to the national championship, and they perform routines for the community regularly. The book opens at a cheerleading camp, where Hermione, the captain of the team, and her cheer squad have spent two weeks undergoing rigorous training and team building to help them prepare for the nationals. Hermione loves cheer camp, in part because she gets to spend it with her best friend, Polly, and her boyfriend, Leo, both of whom she adores.

At the end of their two-week training, the camp hosts a dance for all the cheerleaders, and Hermione decides it is time to let loose. She drinks a cup of punch, and after a while finds herself feeling dizzy and having a hard time standing up. Before she knows what is happening, Hermione is taken into a back hallway by someone she can't clearly make out. After that, everything goes dark.



The second part of the novel opens in the aftermath of Hermione's assault. She wakes up in the hospital, where she learns that she has been drugged and raped by someone at the party. The police have bad news for Hermione – she was found with the lower half of her body submerged in the lake near the camp; because of this, nearly all of the physical evidence that would have been collected in a rape kit was destroyed. Hermione is told that she might be able to find out who attacked her if she becomes pregnant from the assault, but that she should not take a pregnancy test for at least two weeks. She returns home, determined not to let this horrible moment stop her from having a successful senior year as the cheer captain.

After a few weeks, Hermione takes a pregnancy test and discovers that she is pregnant. Her boyfriend, Leo, who has been less than sympathetic since this event happened, is convinced that Hermione is to blame for this assault because she drank punch at the party. Despite this, everyone, including Leo, is supportive when Hermione decides to have an abortion. The section ends with a quick description of Hermione walking into the abortion clinic, preparing for her procedure.

In the third and fourth sections of the novel, Hermione learns more about herself and her sources of strength after a DNA test taken during the abortion reveals no conclusive information about the identity of her attacker. Her friend Polly comes out as a lesbian, and she and Hermione support each other through their struggles to be accepted. Hermione's team is selected for the championships, but unfortunately, the contest will be held at the camp where Hermione was raped. Despite this, Hermione persists, leading her team to the championships at the camp, despite the wave of traumatic memories that wash over her upon her arrival. One of those memories includes the identity of her rapist. Hermione not only finds herself victorious in the cheerleading contest, but also decides to take action against her attacker by collecting a DNA sample that will finally incriminate him.



E.K. Johnston is a Canadian author who publishes Star Wars fan fiction, novels, and books for young adults. She also works as a forensic archaeologist. Many of Johnston's books are based on classics, including A Thousand and One Nights, A Winter's Tale, and Sleeping Beauty. Johnston has written seven novels; her most recent book is The Afterward. Exit, Pursed by a Bear won the Amy Mathers Teen Book Award in 2017.