Cures for Heartbreak - by Margo Rabb (Paperback)

About the Book

After her mother's death from cancer, 15-year-old Mia Perlman, her older sister, and her father must find a way to live on in the face of sudden, unfathomable loss. But even in grief, there is the chance for new beginnings in this poignant, funny, and hopeful novel.

Book Synopsis

Margo Rabb's critically acclaimed debut novel Cures for Heartbreak--a somber yet humorous depiction of love, loss, and new beginnings--has been reissued with a stunning new look.

Less than two weeks after fifteen-year-old Mia Pearlman's mother is diagnosed with cancer, she dies, leaving Mia, her older sister, and their father to face this sudden and unfathomable loss. As Mia struggles to navigate her grief, she's also forced to examine the truth about her parents' rocky marriage, her unexpected feelings for a guy with leukemia, and the nagging health phobias that plague her on a daily basis. Ultimately, her journey down this road slowly paves the way for hope amid immeasurable loss.

In this heartfelt novel that Michael Chabon called "sad, funny, smart, and endlessly poignant," Margo Rabb dives deep into the complicated emotions that befall a family after the death of a loved one.

Mia's world has been turned upside down, and every day brings a new kind of heartbreak--and a new reason to find a cure.

• Complicated Sisterhood: Mia and her older sister Alex are united by grief but divided by everything else. Their shared loss might be the one thing that tears them apart for good.
• An Unexpected First Love: In the midst of tragedy, Mia develops feelings for a boy with leukemia, forcing her to confront life and love when it feels like death is everywhere.
• Overcoming Anxiety: From a terror of weird moles to a library of disease books, Mia battles the nagging health phobias that threaten to take over her life after her mother's death.
• A New Kind of Family: With their family fractured, Mia and her grieving father must find a new way to be there for each other, even when they can barely keep themselves afloat.

Review Quotes

"A powerful debut with unforgettable characters and important things to tell us about family, history, death, love, and philosophy. It's a story that will heal your own heart." - Jbooks.com

"Humor carries this novel, preventing it from being maudlin. Reminiscent of Mexican milagros, those small religious charms nailed on sacred objects to denote miracles, it is through a series of seemingly small experiences that a shattered heart is miraculously mended." - Ingram Library Services

"If you go to Amazon and limit your search to children's books and type in cancer, you'll get more than 4000 book titles. With the field so packed with already published books, I thought it would be unlikely for a new book on the subject to be a MUST READ...And now I'm recommending this with all my heart, for teens and adults." - Marianas Variety

"In a wry, introspective first-person narrative (sections of which were previously published as short stories), Mia examines the ripple effects of this tragedy, showing how grief and loss infiltrate her life. An artful mix of the poignant and the sometimes comically mundane." - The Horn Book

"A witty, matter-of-fact, and heartfelt look at what grief means to one teenager. The light, everyday comedy born of a series of disasters prevents the book from becoming maudlin. Peripheral characters are delightfully, even frighteningly, real in their details." - Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

"This novel gets at the blinding ache of grief, while also managing to be very funny, very smart, and addictively readable. This is truly a gorgeous and important book, one I've been pressing onto friends and their teenaged kids." - Cookie Magazine

"Rabb concentrates not on the brooding and self-pity that can often permeate this type of novel but on an examination of death's antithesis--love. Each chapter collides and colludes to offer both the familiar and the uncharted with humorous and touching detail, breaking and mending the reader's heart in turns." - Teenreads.com

"Intense, poignant but also very funny, Mia's story of the year following her mother's death explores the nature of grief as it is experienced by a Jewish teenager. There is much pain in the story but also much wisdom, not to mention a smart look at school, friendship, and romance." - Association of Jewish Libraries

"Mia's full of conflicting emotions that are expressed in sometimes humorous ways. It's an experience that will help people understand grieving and know there is recovery." - Detroit Free Press

"A sad, funny, smart, endlessly poignant novel. It made me feel grateful for my life, for my family, and above all for the world that brings us gifts like the gift of Margo Rabb." - Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

"Everybody, regardless of age, should read this novel--witty, warm, and gorgeous in its fearlesesness." - Philadelphia Inquirer

"Told in the first person with humor and tears, Mia's voice is authentic, and her story of family tragedy and healing rings true. Touching and tender." - Kirkus Reviews

"Anyone who has grieved the loss of a loved one will feel an immediate connection to Mia, the narrator of this intimate novel. It gives readers a keenly insightful study of grief." - Publishers Weekly

"Cures for Heartbreak is full of sadness, humor, and quirky details that ring completely true. I thoroughly enjoyed it."- - Curtis Sittenfeld, New York Times bestselling author of Prep and American Wife

"Margo Rabb's story beautifully brings together the intensely personal and the historical, and rings with the authenticity of a bitter, yet illuminating truth." - Joyce Carol Oates

"Black humor, pitch-perfect detail, and compelling characters make this a terrific read." - School Library Journal (starred review)

"Rabb leavens impossible heartbreak with surprising humor, delivered with a comedian's timing and dark absurdity. Readers will cherish this powerful debut." - ALA Booklist (starred review)

"A compelling as well as tearful read." - Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)

"When the last page turns, four new and fascinating people have been born into the reader's consciousness." - KLIATT (starred review)

About the Author

Margo Rabb grew up in Queens, New York, and now lives in Brooklyn. Her stories have been broadcast on National Public Radio, and have been
published in the "Atlantic Monthly, Zoetrope, Seventeen, Best New American Voices, New England Review," and elsewhere.

"From the Hardcover edition."