The Moth Girl, Heather Kamins
The Moth Girl, Heather Kamins
List: $23.00 | Sale: $16.10
Club: $11.50

The Moth Girl

Author: Heather Kamins

Narrator: Jeremy Carlisle Parker

Unabridged: 8 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/08/2022


Synopsis

Flying doesn’t always mean freedom.
 

Anna is a regular teenaged girl. She runs track with her best friend, gets good grades, and sometimes drinks beer at parties.
 
But one day at track practice, Anna falls unconscious . . . but instead of falling down, she falls up, defying gravity in the disturbing first symptom of a mysterious disease.
 
This begins a series of trips to the hospital that soon become Anna’s norm. She’s diagnosed with lepidopsy: a rare illness that causes symptoms reminiscent of moths: floating, attraction to light, a craving for sugar, and for an unlucky few, more dangerous physical manifestations.
 
Anna’s world is turned upside down, and as she learns to cope with her illness, she finds herself drifting further and further away from her former life. Her friends don’t seem to understand, running track is out of the question, and the other kids at the disease clinic she attends once a week are a cruel reminder that things will never be the same.
 
From debut author Heather Kamins comes a beautiful and evocative story about one girl’s journey of choosing who she wants to be--in a life she never planned for.

About The Author

Heather Kamins is the recipient of an Artist Fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and her short fiction has appeared in Guernica and elsewhere. The Moth Girl is her first novel. She lives in Western Massachusetts with her husband, two cats, and the variety of woodland creatures who stroll through her yard. 


Reviews

Goodreads review by Booktastically on April 05, 2022

This book didn't cause me to almost die, but neither did it invite me to burn it to the pits of Tartaurs. It was a solid 'okay' book.......more

Goodreads review by milliereadsalot on January 14, 2025

3.5 This book explores chronic illness through a touch of magical realism, but I felt like this fictional illness was explained well and in a way that made it feel as if it could in fact be real. I actually really liked that this book focused on Anna’s experience and not on a romance; I think it’s a......more


Quotes

Praise for The Moth Girl:

“Beautifully written . . . Through the lens of a fictional illness, the novel depicts universal experiences of living with chronic illness.” —BuzzFeed

“Kamins knows her territory, and Anna’s emotional experience rings true. Readers . . . will be well served by this detailed, convincing, and timely depiction of learning to live with chronic illness . . . Effectively shines a spotlight on how the onset of chronic illness reshapes one teen’s world.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Quiet but powerful . . . Perfect for readers of Judy Blume’s novels who are looking for an air of magic.” —Booklist

“Recommended for readers seeking to ­understand living with a chronic condition—their own or someone close to them.” —School Library Journal

“Compelling.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books