THIS IS HOW I FIND HER
By: Sara Polsky
Publication Date: September 1, 2013
Summary:Â
Sophie Canon has just started her junior year when her mother tries to kill herself. Sophie has always lived her life in the shadow of her mother’s bipolar disorder, monitoring her medication, rushing home after school to check on her instead of spending time with friends, and keeping her mother’s diagnosis secret from everyone outside their family. But when the overdose lands Sophie’s mother in the hospital, Sophie no longer has to watch over her. She moves in with her aunt, uncle, and cousin, from whom she has been estranged for the past five years. Rolling her suitcase across town to her family’s house is easy. What’s harder is figuring out how to build her own life.
Interview
We had the opportunity to chat with Sara, the author of This is How I Find Her, and wanted to share that with you readers! This is definitely a book that I’m looking forward to reading come September 1st!Â
Give us your elevator pitch for This Is How I Find Her…
Sophie has spent her whole life caring for her mother, who has bipolar disorder. When her mother is hospitalized after a suicide attempt, Sophie moves in with estranged relatives. Rolling her suitcase across town to her family’s house is easy. What’s harder is figuring out how to balance her mother’s needs with her own life.
Introduce us to Sophie Canon, your main character in This Is How I Find Her.
Sophie feels so real to me that it’s hard to describe her in a few words. But she’s responsible, quiet, wise beyond her years, and, when the book starts, withdrawn. As for how she changes over the course of the story, you’ll have to read it to find out!
Sophie is dealing with some really rough things in her life. What made you want to write a story about a character who is dealing with a family member with mental health issues?
The characters were dealing with those things from almost the moment they showed up in my head, so I never consciously thought, “okay, I want to write a book about mental illness.” But once I started, I realized how much I cared about the issue. I’ve known people who’ve dealt with bipolar disorder and depression, and the experience of wanting to be there for them without really knowing what they were going through was something I drew on in writing this story.
Mental illness is a main focus of This Is How I Find Her, but what other issues can we expect to read about in Sophie’s story?
Family, and the question of the family we’re born with versus the family we choose. Several of the characters are also artists, and there’s a lot of art and architecture in the book.
Do you have any writing quirks or rituals?
My writing habits are rather boring. Just me and the keyboard, as often as I can find the time.
What books are you reading at the moment?
I just finished Elisabeth Dahl’s Genie Wishes, a middle-grade novel, and right now I’m reading an adult novel, Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings. I’ve also been rereading the Harry Potter books this summer.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?Â
Read and write as much as you can — but also get out there and experience as many things as you can, so that you have something to write about.
About Sara:
Sara Polsky’s debut YA novel, THIS IS HOW I FIND HER, will be published by Albert Whitman in fall 2013. Her fiction has appeared in Fictitious Force and Behind the Wainscot. She is represented by Suzie Townsend.Sara also blogs for Curbed, and her articles and essays have appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, The Forward, Poets & Writers, and other publications. She lives in New York City.
The amazing and wonderful people at New Leaf Literary have given me the chance to offer you all a giveaway! Â Up for grabs is one Hardcover finished copy of This Is How I Find Her.
US ONLY
Winner has 48 hours to respond or a new winner is chosen
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