16-year-old Loa's clockwork galaxy has collapsed...

As Loa spins off on her own, her mind ambushes her with vivid nightmares and sadistic flashbacks—a textbook case of PTSD. But there are no textbook fixes for Loa's short-circuiting brain. She must find her own way to pry her world from the clutches of death.

"When I read for pleasure, I read for voice, and Loa's voice is so true, so bone-dry funny, so enormously sad..."

—Kathe Koja, author of Headlong

"Loa Lindgren—like Kaye Gibbons's Ellen Foster or Sapphire's Precious Jones—is marvelously tenacious, off-beat, and resilient. But she's her own girl, and her insights—about physics, mortality, loyalty and grief—feel stunning and new."

—Julie Schumacher, author of Black Box

"Blythe Woolston's The Freak Observer is at once tender and shocking, smart and edgy, emotionally rich and emotionally raw. "

—Christine Meldrum, author of Madapple