The Happiest Girl in the World
Fiction
William Morrow Paperbacks
April 20, 2021
Advanced reader copy
384
Free from publisher
For Sera Wheeler, the Olympics is the reason for everything. It’s why she trains thirty hours a week, starves herself to under 100 pounds, and pops Advil like Tic Tacs.
For her mother, Charlene, hungry for glory she never had, it’s why she rises before dawn to drive Sera to practice in a different state, and why the family scrimps, saves, and fractures. It’s why, when Sera’s best friend reports the gymnastics doctor to the authority who selects the Olympic Team, Sera denies what she knows about his treatments, thus preserving favor.
Their friendship shatters. But Sera protected her dream—didn’t she?
Sera doubles down, taping broken toes, numbing torn muscles, and pouring her family’s resources into the sport. Soon she isn’t training for the love of gymnastics. She’s training to make her disloyalty worthwhile. No matter the cost.
The Happiest Girl in the World explores the dark history behind an athlete who stands on the world stage, biting gold. It's about the silence required of the exceptional, a tarnished friendship, and the sacrifices a parent will make for a child, even as a family is torn apart. It’s about the price of greatness.
My review:
When I heard this author had a new book coming, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it! Much as she did in Mercy House, the author tackles subjects that have been newsworthy, and spins a fictional story around them. In this book, the subject is the sexual abuse scandal of the Team USA gymnastics doctor, prevalent in the news in early 2018. Not only do we read about the scandal, but we also get a close up glimpse of just what these athletes go through on a day to day basis, the ones who make it to the world stage, and those whose dreams are crushed before they ever get there. As a Mom of a daughter who spent years of her life as a competitive cheerleader, I could relate to many parts of this book (although thankfully not the grittier aspects). The endless practices, the money for competitions and traveling to out of state events, and yes, the overall rush of pride and happiness when her team came away with a win! Ultimately, a recurring knee injury had our family putting the breaks on her continuing in the sport, but the girls in this story power through injury after injury, practice after practice, in order to get the ultimate prize.......an Olympic berth. While we mostly follow one fictional girl and her family, I loved how the author kept it real with mentioning the actual Olympians, along with the correct timelines surrounding qualifiers, and Olympic events. The effect this has on the family is well documented, especially when in this case, one parent is more on board than the other. We even get the pandemic thrown in when those waiting to go to the 2020 Olympics find out they are put on hold! Having some armchair knowledge of gymnastics events would probably be helpful going into this book, but for the casual viewer of only Olympic events, you'll do just fine.
If you have never had any experience with sports at an elite level, or even if you have, I think this book will shock you in its boldness to tell it like it is in competitive sport such as gymnastics. It really exposes the lengths athletes go to in attempting to achieve the ultimate dream of winning. And when that dream is fulfilled, are they really the happiest girl in the world?
