Nancy

Nancy, an alias for the anonymous author of It Happened to Nancy, is the main character of the book. The book is composed directly from her diary entries. The editor, Beatrice Sparks, deliberately shields us from information about Nancy's real life, for instance hiding the South Carolina town's name from us along with any information about her address. When the story begins, Nancy is fourteen and falls deeply in love with a boy named Collin, who she thinks is eighteen. He works his way into her heart and then rapes her on a date in her own house. It later turns out that Nancy contracted the HIV virus from Collin during the only act of sexual intercourse she ever performed.

Nancy is a happy and intelligent young girl. She possesses a great deal of verbal talent with a strong ability to express herself and difficult emotions at times...