Jennifer Iacopelli’s brilliant, hard-hitting debut YA novel, Break the Fall is published in the US today by Razorbill.
This novel has generated a huge amount of publicity ahead of publication.
It has already reached No. 1 in Amazon’s “New Releases in Teen and Young Adult Fiction about Sexual Abuse” and has had a fabulous write up from Kirkus reviews, who said: “Expertly capturing the excitement and pressure of being part of a high-level sports team as well as its mental and physical sacrifices.”
It has also been featured in numerous 2020 round ups, including Bookbub‘s “The Young Adult Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2020“, Bitch Media‘s “25 YA Novels Feminists Should Read in 2020″, United By Pop’s “15 YA books Netflix need to make into movies” and most recently iNews’ “25 of the best new YA books, from Diary of a Confused Feminist to Wonderland”.
The only thing seventeen-year-old Audrey Lee dreams about is swinging her way to Olympic glory. Nothing is going to stop her, not even the agony in her back. Every spasm and ache will be worth it once she has that gold medal around her neck.
But none of her training prepares her for her coach being led away in handcuffs, accused by a fellow gymnast of the unthinkable. No one knows what, or who to believe and Audrey’s teammates go into meltdown.
As the Olympic torch closes in, Audrey has no idea who to trust, let alone what life holds after her final dismount. The only thing she can do is hope that in the end, belief in herself and what’s left of her team, will be enough for gold.
Break the Fall has had some fabulous reviews ahead of publication:
“A fraught behind-the-scenes look at the lives of young Olympic hopefuls. Particularly compelling is the international female gymnasts’ demonstration of unity against sexual harassment, a show of empowerment in every arena.” Publishers Weekly
“I flew through this book. I was rooting for Audrey and the rest of Team USA the whole time—for their health, for their friendship, and of course for their gymnastics. Reading Break the Fall is the closest I’ve ever come to the thrill of competing at the Olympics—and I didn’t even have to do a single push-up to get here.” Leila Sales, author of This Song Will Save Your Life
“A fast-paced drama packed with big emotional stakes.” Jenn Bennett, author of Alex, Approximately
Jennifer Iacopelli was born in new York and has no plans to leave, ever. Growing up, she read everything she could get her hands on, but her favorite authors were L.M. Montgomery and Frances Hodgson Burnett, both of whom wrote about kick-butt girls before it was cool for girls to be kick-butt. As a librarian, she frolics all day with her students, books and computers and writes at night while cheering on her beloved Yankees.
