Weeping Underwater Looks a Lot Like Laughter — Michael J. White

A smart, darkly funny, yet poignant debut novel about coming of age without coming undone.

Seventeen-year-old George Flynn-an all-around decent guy-has just moved with his family to Des Moines, a place where he knows no one and is pretty much nobody. Despite this inauspicious start to his junior year, he soon finds his niche, falling in with the unique, enchantA-ing Schell sisters. Emily, an aspiring actress and free spirit, becomes the object of George's mostly unrequited yearnings. But it's Katie, with her quirks, her scathing deadpan humor, and her brave battle with multiple sclerosis, who really gets George hooked on the Schells. When an out- of-the-blue tragA-edy strikes, upsetting the delicate balance of all their lives, George must figure out a way to help Emily in order to save himself.

Told with both razor-sharp wit and deep empathy from George's later adult perspective, this is a moving, memorable debut novel about friendship and first love-about dealing with grief and trying to grow up without losing yourself along the way.