How It Feels to Float

by Helena Fox

Book Overview

A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best of the Year

"Profoundly moving . . . Will take your breath away." --Kathleen Glasgow, author of Girl in Pieces

A stunningly gorgeous and deeply hopeful portrayal of living with mental illness and grief, from an exceptional new voice.

Biz knows how to float. She has her people, her posse, her mom and the twins. She has Grace. And she has her dad, who tells her about the little kid she was, and who shouldn't be here but is. So Biz doesn't tell anyone anything. Not about her dark, runaway thoughts, not about kissing Grace or noticing Jasper, the new boy. And she doesn't tell anyone about her dad. Because her dad died when she was seven. And Biz knows how to float, right there on the surface--normal okay regular fine.

But after what happens on the beach--first in the ocean, and then in the sand--the tethers that hold Biz steady come undone. Dad disappears and, with him, all comfort. It might be easier, better, sweeter to float all the way away? Or maybe stay a little longer, find her father, bring him back to her. Or maybe--maybe maybe maybe--there's a third way Biz just can't see yet.

Debut author Helena Fox tells a story about love and grief, about inter-generational mental illness, and how living with it is both a bridge to someone loved and lost and, also, a chasm. She explores the hard and beautiful places loss can take us, and honors those who hold us tightly when the current wants to tug us out to sea.

"Give this to all [your] friends immediately." --Cosmopolitan.com
"I haven't been so dazzled by a YA in ages." --Jandy Nelson, author of I'll Give You the Sun (via SLJ)
"Mesmerizing and timely." --Bustle
"Nothing short of exquisite." --PopSugar
"Immensely satisfying" --Girls' Life
* "Lyrical and profoundly affecting." --Kirkus (starred review)
* "Masterful...Just beautiful." --Booklist (starred review)
* "Intimate...Unexpected." --PW (starred review)
* "Fox writes with superb understanding and tenderness." --BCCB (starred review)
* "Frank [and] beautifully crafted." --BookPage (starred review)
"Deeply moving...A story of hope." --Common Sense Media
"This book will explode you into atoms." --Margo Lanagan, author of Tender Morsels
"Helena Fox's novel delivers. Read it." --Cath Crowley, author of Words in Deep Blue
"This is not a book; it is a work of art." --Kerry Kletter, author of The First Time She Drowned
"Perfect...Readers will be deeply moved." --Books+Publishing

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525554297
• ISBN13: 9780525554295
• Release Date: May 2019
• Publisher: Dial Books
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 5.6" x 9.2"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Great Debut

How it Feels to Float is a great debut. It’s clearly a first novel, but that shouldn’t be held against it. Fox has walked onto the scene with a gut-wrenching read about mental health and forgiving yourself. It’s a very honest look at mental illness, within oneself and inside another person. There were some bumps and hiccups here and there, but the writing flows flawlessly throughout. I recommend this as a hard-hitting young adult contemporary, although older audiences who don’t still read YA like me may appreciate this one for its prose. Ultimately, I look forward to picking up any- and everything Fox writes in the future. If you're on the fence about reading it I do highly recommend reading it!