A Trick of the Light

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Published by: HarperCollins
Release Date: September 23, 2014
Pages: 208
ISBN13: 978-0062133090

 
Synopsis

Mike Welles had everything under control: star outfielder on the baseball team, good son, good student, a loyal friend. But that was before. Now things are rough at home and getting confusing at school. He’s losing his sense of direction, and he feels like a mess.

Now there’s also a voice in his head. An irresistible presence – only trying to help him, it says, to rid his life of everything holding him back. How? Simple. Eat only five bites of food a day – no matter how hungry you are. Exercise to the point of exhaustion – then keep going. Mike grows dangerously thin, and warped and bitter – no longer the nice, easy-going guy he used to be.

This is the story of one young man’s battle with his own shadows, and how the things we build to protect ourselves can threaten to destroy us.

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Praise

  • Bank Street College Best Children’s Books of the Year 
  • Best Fiction for Young Adults—Young Adult Library Services Association
  • “Books Outside the Box: Realistic Fiction with a Bite”—Young Adult Library Services Association Pick
  • Books for National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, The Horn Book
  • YA Highway pick: “Mental Health in YA”

Barnes & Noble Teen Blog Unexpected Narrator Pick
Featured in 12 Amazing Novels that Show the Wide Range of YA Fiction

“A painful and necessary account of how eating disorders affect boys, too. Metzger’s choice to cast the disease in the role of narrator forces readers inside Mike’s head, an extremely uncomfortable yet illuminating way to examine this lethal disease.”
— Publishers Weekly, ★ Starred Review 

“Thank you for writing this important book and contributing richly to the field of eating disorder prevention and awareness.” — Jacquelyn Ekern, MS, LPC, President of Eating Disorder Hope

“A Trick of the Light is a masterpiece of narrative voice, riveting from beginning to end. I can honestly say I’ve never read anything like it. Stunningly original and profoundly insightful, this book has touched me as a reader and inspired me as a writer.”
— James Howe

“A Trick of the Light is a marvel. It’s hard to imagine a more convincing and insightful depiction of a teenager dealing with a serious personal issue, and yet the story does so in a mysterious and unexpected way. Metzger does a superb job of engaging the reader without revealing any more than is necessary, and the result is a series of surprises that will keep even the most jaded reader going all the way to a realistic and satisfying conclusion.”
— Todd Strasser

“The narrator of this startlingly original book is a voice inside fifteen-year-old Mike Welles’s head… Metzger’s compelling psychological drama takes on the subject of a boy with an eating disorder. The narrative voice—Mike’s eating disorder, personified—is the star of this masterfully written novel.”
— Dean Schneider, The Horn Book

“The breakout novel A Trick of the Light is something both compelling and breathless, yet elegantly written… Lois Metzger may have written a lifesaving book. It never becomes preachy, nor does it provide easy answers, but it looks at the ways teenagers suffer and points a way toward hope.”
— Liz Rosenberg, The Barnes & Noble Review/barnesandnoblereview.com

“Mike’s world is beginning to spin out of control. But the voice in his head can tell him exactly how to ‘master the chaos’ in this horror story wrapped in reality. A Trick of the Light deserves to stand on the same shelf as Laurie Halse Anderson’s Wintergirls.”
— Richard Peck

“A unique look at mental illness, from the perspective of the insidious voice inside teenage Mike Welles’ head… [a] powerful method of illustrating the warped thinking that characterizes an eating disorder… This unusual and moving novel addresses complicated ideas, and is ultimately a hopeful tale about coming back to life.”
— Katie Haegele, The Philadelphia Inquirer

“The spooky, seductive narrator of Lois Metzger’s new book will get inside your head and play tricks on you, just as he does to Mike, the main character. At its heart, though, A Trick of the Light is a compassionate and inventive exploration of a little-understood behavior that plagues a surprising number of young men.”
— Patricia McCormick, National Book Award finalist

“Stunning, heart-wrenching, and painful, yet uplifting and hopeful, A Trick of the Light is an important book for teens. Told from the male point of view, A Trick of the Light addresses negative body image and weight issues for boys.”
— Pamela Thompson, Library Media Specialist, El Paso, Texas

“Don’t be misled by the book’s small size: This slim volume packs a big emotional punch.”
—Jill Ratzan, BookPage

“A Trick of the Light should be required reading in our schools. Rendered with sensitivity and intelligence, Metzger’s beautifully drawn novel illuminates the sneaky-insidious nature of eating disorders with clarity, heart-rending honesty, and hope.”
— Robert Crais, New York Times #1 bestselling author 

“Lois Metzger’s deeply interior story sheds necessary light on an otherwise unspoken pain. A must-read.”
— Rita Williams-Garcia, Newbery Honor Author

★★★★★ “A brilliant and powerful piece of writing.”
— Richie Partington, “Richie’s Picks”

Excerpt