Dimensions
155 x 235 x 28mm
The debut by much-lauded newcomer Katharine Noel is a novel of complexity and power about the impact of a teenage girl's mental illness on her family.
One day, Angie Voorster - diligent student, all-star swimmer, and Ivy League-bound high school senior - dives to the bottom of a pool and stays there. In that moment, everything the Voorster family believes they know about one another changes. Katharine Noel's extraordinary debut illuminates the fault lines in one family's relationship as well as the complex emotional ties that bind them together.
'Halfway House' is the story of Angie's psychotic break and her family's subsequent turmoil. Angie is a charismatic young woman - brilliant, witty, and passionate - until she swings to manic highs or dangerous lows. Each of her family members responds differently to the ongoing crisis: Her father Pieter, a Dutch-born professional cellist, retreats further into his music; her mother begins a destabilizing affair with a younger man; her younger brother, Luke, first distances himself as much as possible from his sister, then later drops out of college to be closer to her. And Luke's college girlfriend Wendy, who comes from a farming tow.
