How to Breathe Underwater

A New York Times notable book and winner of The Northern California Book Award for Best Short Fiction, these nine brave, wise, and spellbinding stories make up this debut. In "e;When She is Old and I Am Famous"e; a young woman confronts the inscrutable power of her cousin's beauty. In "e;Note to Sixth-Grade Self"e; a band of popular girls exert their social power over an awkward outcast. In "e;Isabel Fish"e; fourteen-year-old Maddy learns to scuba dive in order to mend her family after a terrible accident. Alive with the victories, humiliations, and tragedies of youth, How to Breathe Underwater illuminates this powerful territory with striking grace and intelligence."e;These stories are without exception clear-eyed, compaassionate and deeply moving.... Even her most bitter characters have a gift, the sharp wit of envy. This, Orringer's first book, is breathtakingly good, truly felt and beautifully delivered."e;—The Guardian 

A New York Times notable book and winner of The Northern California Book Award for Best Short Fiction, these nine brave, wise, and spellbinding stories make up this debut. In "e;When She is Old and I Am Famous"e; a young woman confronts the inscrutable power of her cousin's beauty. In "e;Note to Sixth-Grade Self"e; a band of popular girls exert their social power over an awkward outcast. In "e;Isabel Fish"e; fourteen-year-old Maddy learns to scuba dive in order to mend her family after a terrible accident. Alive with the victories, humiliations, and tragedies of youth, How to Breathe Underwater illuminates this powerful territory with striking grace and intelligence."e;These stories are without exception clear-eyed, compaassionate and deeply moving.... Even her most bitter characters have a gift, the sharp wit of envy. This, Orringer's first book, is breathtakingly good, truly felt and beautifully delivered."e;—The Guardian