Fix by J. Albert Mann

Fix

Eve and Lidia have been friends since Kindergarten. Eve was born with severe scoliosis. Lidia was born with one hand. Their structural deviations are not what brought them together, but they are what rips them apart.

Trapped and alone inside of an un-working body following surgery and filled with obvious regret, Eve is forced into her mind, an unhappy place since her split with Lidia. Under an increasing dependence on opiates and struggling to tell the difference between what is real and what is imagined, Eve strikes up a relationship–and a pact–with the devil. She wishes for everything to go back to the way it was, to have Lidia in her life again. But as she starts to unravel the past, she comes to realize that her memory is far from reliable and must come to grips with what she thinks she knows.

Told in non-linear format, Eve relives what she believes happened, while piecing together what actually was. Fix explores dependency, self-acceptance, jealousy, physical pain, regret, addiction, and the greatest of human trials, grief.

About the Author

J. Albert Mann is the author of middle grade and young adult novels. Her stories and poetry have appeared in Highlights for Children, once winning the magazine's annual Fiction Contest. Simon & Schuster's Atheneum Books for Young Readers is set to publish her next work of historical fiction about the early life of Margaret Sanger, and Bloomsbury published her early middle grade series Sunny Sweet, written under the name Jennifer Ann Mann. She has an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults, where she also obtained the Picture Book Intensive certificate. She is the author of Scar: A Revolutionary War Tale, What Every Girl Should Know, The Degenerates, and Fix.

My main character, Eve and I have a lot in common. We both lived in bodies very different than most folks. We both suffered years of chronic pain. We both endured a body-altering surgery. And we both believed a new body would change everything. Instead, we both found ourselves falling toward a place called rock bottom.

Fix is the story of Eve’s fall.

Anyone who has dealt with chronic pain, grief, or addiction has contemplated rock bottom. (I do not include depression/mental illness because this is something very different.) Rock bottom is a place where the pain stops, or at least stops getting worse. It’s an end of sorts. A place where Eve might lie on the cold surface of despair and rest. But those of us who’ve experienced the fall toward rock bottom have discovered it doesn’t exist. There is no bottom to pain or grief—there is only the falling.

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Praise

“This searing but gorgeous read entwines poetry and prose in its descriptions of a friendship gone awry.”—Buzzfeed

“Intense, unflinching…a gratifying story.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“A devastating and beautiful read that clearly shows the complexities of addiction, fear, love, and friendship.”

—SLJ

"Eve’s physical and emotional experiences resonate, and the supporting cast…are vividly drawn in this hopeful contemporary novel."—Publishers Weekly

“The insidiousness of substance dependency, grief, and pain weave together in this incredibly powerful, all-consuming, captivating novel.”

—The Tiny Activist

"Fix by J. Albert Mann is a haunting, heartbreaking story about addiction, internalized ableism, friendship, and what we're willing to do for the people we love. Written in a combination of achingly raw prose and verse, this book will make you lose yourself and then find yourself again in the process. Mann crafts a lacerating picture of grief, addiction, and friendship that will stay with you long after you close the lid.”

—Alaina Lavoie, Communications Manager, We Need Diverse Books