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How It Feels to Float

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( 22,872 ratings, 2,809 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Biz navigates her world carrying the weight of loss and hidden secrets. After her father's death when she was seven, she maintains a delicate balance — floating on the surface, appearing normal and fine. With her close-knit group of friends, her tender memories, and the arrival of Jasper, the new boy, Biz experiences the complexities of grief, love, and self-discovery. Helena Fox crafts a deeply affecting narrative filled with lyrical prose that explores the emotional aftermath of trauma and the resilience needed to truly live.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for young adults and older readers who appreciate poignant contemporary fiction dealing with themes of grief, identity, and emotional growth. Suitable for those interested in heartfelt stories that explore mental health and relationships with sensitivity.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

A stunning, profound, deeply hopeful story about love, loss and living with mental illness, from an exceptional new voice in YA.

A stunning, profound, deeply hopeful story about love, loss and living with mental illness, from an exceptional new voice in YA.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Every now and then you pick up a novel and you know you've found something wonderful - a glorious voice, a character you adore. Helena Fox's novel delivers. It is exquisite. Read it. — Cath Crowley

Winner of the Victorian Premier's Award Prize for Writing for Young Adults 2020
Winner of the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Young Adult Literature 2020

Biz knows how to float. She has her people, posse, her mum 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.

Shortlisted for the Griffith University Young Adult Book Award 2019
Shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature 2020
Shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers 2020
Longlisted for ABIA Book of the Year for Older Children 2020
Longlisted for the Indie Book Award for Young Adult Fiction 2020

Praise for How It Feels to Float

Fox's prose is lyrical and profoundly affecting, providing a nuanced account of the hereditary effects of trauma. — Kirkus Reviews, Best YA Books of 2019

A profoundly moving story about grief, loss, and love that will take your breath away. Helena Fox is a writer to be reckoned with. — Kathleen Glasgow

This book will explode you into atoms, put you back together, and return the new shape of you to earth. Alive with sensation and rich in thought and feeling, How It Feels to Float intensively explores what it's like to be here now. — Margo Lanagan

Mesmerizing and timely. — Bustle

Impossibly beautiful. — Kerry Kletter

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781760783303

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 23 April 2019

Country: Australia

Imprint: Pan Australia

Audience: Children

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 134.0mm

Width: 201.0mm

Height: 26.0mm

Weight: 300g

Pages: 384

About the Author

Helena Fox lives in the seaside city of Wollongong, Australia, with her endlessly creative and kind family. She mentors and runs writing workshops for young people, and is a graduate of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College in the U.S. Helena has travelled and lived all around the world, but of all her adventures, working with young people and helping them find and express their voice has brought her the greatest joy. How It Feels to Float is her debut novel.

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