I am honored and proud to present to you my tenth novel, I Am Not Alone (Scholastic, July 18, 2023). This thriller and love story about a young man struggling with the onset of mental illness and a young woman searching for her purpose in life – is one one that is both personally meaningful to me and the culmination of all I have learned about writing for young adults.
Alberto is a seventeen-year-old undocumented immigrant from Mexico who recently began hearing a voice that is insistently critical of his thoughts and actions. Alberto calls the voice Captain America in the hope that giving the voice a name will make it less terrifying. When Alberto is accused of a violent crime he does not remember committing, he sets out to discover his innocence . . . or guilt.
Grace is the soon-to-be valedictorian of her private high school. She is headed to Princeton and then on to medical school when her parents’ unexpected divorce fills her with paralyzing doubts and questions about her future. She does not know how her life will be forever transformed by the young man who shows up one Sunday morning to clean the windows of her Brooklyn apartment.
One of the reasons the book is so close to my heart is because Alberto’s mental struggles are based on my own experience with auditory hallucinations during intense manic episodes of bipolar disorder. During those times I, like Alberto, fought, sometimes unsuccessfully against false images of myself presented by the voice. I was fortunate enough to be supported by a caring community and the right medical help, something that is not always available to many who are living with mental illness. My hope is that this story of faith, courage and love will help us see the unique and precious human being behind the symptoms of mental illnesses and to respond to the call for our involvement when it comes.
