Pg. 69: Brendan Halpin's "Forever Changes"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Brendan Halpin's Forever Changes.

About the book, from the publisher:

5:30 a.m., Brianna Pelletier gets ready for her daily pounding. As she lies on the couch, her dad beats her chest, then her back, coaxing the mucus out of her lungs. The pounding doesn’t take care of everything. Brianna’s held out for a long time, but a body with cystic fibrosis doesn’t last forever. It doesn’t matter that Brianna has a brilliant mathematical mind or that she’s a shoo-in for MIT. Or even that her two best friends are beautiful, popular, and loyal. In the grand scheme of things, none of that stuff matters at all. The standard life, lasting maybe seventy-five years, is no more than a speck in the sum total of the universe. At eighteen, and doubting she’ll make nineteen, Brianna is practically a nonentity. Of course she’s done the math. But in her senior year of high school, Brianna learns of another kind of math, in which an infinitely small, near-zero quantity can have profound effects on an entire system. If these tiny quantities didn’t exist, things wouldn’t make the same sense.

Funny, tear-jerking, and memorable, the author’s second novel for teens introduces readers to an extraordinary girl who learns that the meaning of forever can change, and that life – and death – is filled with infinite possibilities.

Among the early praise for the novel:

"Brianna's hesitancy about planning for a future while facing death is poignant and resonates with readers."
—VOYA

“The writing . . . captures much dimension in the personalities of Brianna and those who love her.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“The story of a young woman whose time is measurable if not mathematically knowable . . . readers will be drawn by that affecting theme.”
—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

"One of the best books I've read."
—A YALSA YA Galley Teen Reader

Learn more about the book and author at Brendan Halpin's website and MySpace page.

Brendan Halpin is author of How Ya Like Me Now and Forever Changes, both novels for young adults; the novels Dear Catastrophe Waitress, Long Way Back and Donorboy; and the memoirs Losing My Faculties and It Takes a Worried Man.

Writers Read: Brendan Halpin.

The Page 69 Test: Forever Changes.

--Marshal Zeringue