When the World Tips Over

I didn’t realize this was a Young Adult novel when I first picked it up, but I was immediately sucked into this gorgeous, multi-generational tale of a Northern California family that has more than its share of secrets. Told in fairy tales, diary entries, notes, and straight prose from each character’s point of view, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever read. The three children in the Fall family—19-year-old violin virtuoso and human wrecking ball Wynton; heartbreakingly gorgeous and seemingly perfect 17-year-old Miles; and ghost-seeing 12-year-old Dizzy, who sees only the best in everyone—have all been lost since their father left when their mother was pregnant with Dizzy. When they each have an encounter with a mysterious, rainbow-haired young woman, they think that somehow she’s the key to their happiness. But first there is A LOT of complicated family history to unpack. As a reminder that we never truly know everything our loved ones have gone through, this novel will almost certainly be in my Top 10 this year.