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Conditions of a Heart

by Bethany Mangle

Identity, disability, and the cost of concealment

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AlbakiReads Editorial

Identity, disability, and the cost of concealment

Brynn Kwan has built a high-school identity around seeming unaffected, while keeping a rapidly worsening disability private. A suspension following a fight disrupts the clubs, prom plans, and relationships that helped sustain that image. The story brings disability into questions of self-definition, romantic trust, and uncertainty about the future, with Brynn’s surgery and long-standing relationship with Oliver adding pressure to what she chooses to reveal. Her sister’s lack of understanding and the suspicion she has faced since childhood further complicate the effort to be seen on her own terms.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Teen readers interested in coming-of-age stories about disability and identity
  • Readers drawn to young adult fiction that connects romance with questions of trust and disclosure
  • Readers interested in high-school settings and social pressures around belonging

Themes

Disability and identityConcealment and disclosureSelf-reinventionRomantic relationshipsBelonging and social judgment

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

Two starred reviews!

"Achingly touching, heartfelt, and true, Brynn's story of reinvention and self-discovery resonates on every page. A book to savor and hold dear." --Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces and The Agathas

For fans of Talia Hibbert and Lynn Painter comes an "emotionally rich" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) and unflinchingly honest story about a teen who must come to terms with her disability and what it means for her identity, her love life, and her future.

Brynn Kwan is desperate for her high school persona to be real. That Brynn is head of the yearbook committee, the favorite for prom queen, and definitely not crumbling from a secret disability that's rapidly wearing her down. If no one knows the truth about her condition, Brynn doesn't have to worry about the pitying looks or accusations of being a faker that already destroyed her childhood friendships. She's even willing to let go of her four-year relationship with her first love, Oliver, rather than reveal that a necessary surgery was the reason she ignored his existence for the entire summer.

But after Brynn tries to break up a fight at a pep rally and winds up barred from all her clubs and senior prom, she has nothing left to prop up her illusion of being just like everyone else. During a week-long suspension from school, she realizes that she doesn't quite recognize the face in the mirror--and it's not because of her black eye from the fight. With a healthy sister who simply doesn't understand and a confused ex-boyfriend who won't just take a hint and go away like a normal human being, Brynn begins to wonder if it's possible to reinvent her world by being the person she thought no one wanted: herself.
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