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Stevie is eleven and loves reading and sea-creatures. She lives with her mum, and she’s been best friends with Andrew since forever. Stevie’s mum teases her that someday they’ll get married, but Stevie knows that won’t ever happen. There’s a girl at school that she likes more. A lot more. Actually, she’s a bit confused about how much she likes her. It’s nothing like the way she likes Andrew. It makes her fizz inside. That’s a new feeling, one she doesn’t understand. Stevie needs to find out if girls can like girls — love them, even – but it’s hard to get any information, and she’s too shy to ask out loud about it. But maybe she can find an answer in a book. With the help of a librarian, Stevie finds stories of girls loving girls, and builds up her courage to share the truth with her mum. Written in accessible verse `chapters’ and in a warm and reassuring style, The Deepest Breath will be of special relevance to young girls who are starting to realise that they are attracted to other girls, but it is also a story for any young reader with an open mind who wants to understand how people’s emotions affect their lives.

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I spent most of this beautifully written verse novel blinking back tears. Grehan has created one of those rare gems, a book that feels so utterly real and involving that the reader lives every page with the main character. Written with such heart and tenderness, after closing the last page, I felt genuinely distraught to have finished it. Amazing to think it’s only Grehan’s second book.

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Powerful in its simplicity ... A fierce reminder of the need for books that show readers of all kinds of love, as well as being this kind of book itself.

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Small in scope and big in heart and feeling, this novel is a tender portrait of gay early adolescence and a strong mother-daughter attachment.

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Saying this book was beautiful doesn't actually do it justice. Pardon the pun, but it was simply breathtaking. 

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Exceptionally unique and progressive ... breaks new ground in children's literature. The skill and the kindness with which Grehan addresses challenging issues in this book is astounding. This is an incredibly gentle and tender novel, yet the passion that lights it from within is ferocious.

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Grehan’s verse flows like water, and her scenes – some tense, some thoughtful, and each slipping easily into the next – patiently follow the rises and falls of a young girl’s emotional life.