The Place Between Breaths by An Na

I've been a huge fan of An Na's writing since I read A Step from Heaven in ninth grade. It was the first Korean-American novel I had ever read, and I was blown away with how much feeling and detail Na could fit in such compact writing, (Na could write about pasta boiling and I’d read it.) This morning, I reread her latest novel, The Place Between Breaths, and finished it before noon.

Eighteen-year-old Grace King interns at the prestigious lab where her father recruits scientists to find a cure for schizophrenia, the disease that whisked her Korean-born mother away from them over a decade ago. He has devoted his life to this research, hoping science has the answers and hoping that one day, his wife will be found.

As Grace tries to navigate the impact of her mother’s disappearance and her dad’s distant behavior, her friend Hannah is pregnant. Grace tries to offer her ways out, but Hannah claims her casual boyfriend, Dave, loves her. How can Grace believe in love? Her father--an adoptee who always hoped to find true love and have a family--thought he had found this in his marriage, only to have his wife leave without a trace.

And something else is bothering Grace. She hasn't been herself. She doesn't look good. Her friend Will from the lab is worried about her. Stephanie at the diner she frequents is worried about her. Grace tells everyone she is fine, but a different reality is unwinding in her head. She's always hearing a train, She sees a woman at the bus stop who's suddenly not there, not even her footprints in the snow. And is the research at the lab the only thing that's really keeping her father from being fully present? 

This is the third time I’ve read The Place Between Breaths. It’s a slim book that can be read in one sitting, but it has left a lasting impression on me. I always find myself leafing through its page as long after I finished the book. Na’s lyrical writing of Grace’s grief from losing her mother and her growing battle with mental health made me feel choked up during my second read. And today, I picked up on some small details that I hadn't noticed before that were valuable to the plot. The ambiguous POVs keep me wondering what could become of Grace and what her father and/or Will felt as they witnessed someone they love break down.

The Place Between Breaths is a dark, gripping, and beautiful masterpiece that I highly recommend to anyone who loves literary fiction and wants a deeper understanding of schizophrenia.

It’s been 84 years …

​Okay, not that long. But if you’re an avid reader like me, who reads 75+ books a year, then, you’ll get what I’m talking about.

I’m talking about those books you hug to your chest when you’ve finished reading them. Those books that hold those favorite passages that randomly enter your mind, and you pluck the title off your shelf to find those words. Those books you gush about when someone asks you, “Have you read anything good lately?" Those books you can't live without if you were stranded on a desert island.

It’s been a long time since I could feel any of that about a book, and I miss those feelings.

So, this snowy afternoon, I gathered some of my favorite titles and decided that they’re going at the top of my 2026 reading list.

What books do you plan on reading next year?

Hello!

 My name is Therese. Five days ago, I published my young adult Christian novel, The Quiet Edge of Memory, which is a love story of two loners who look beyond their differences to help each other sort through past trauma and find healing. I've been throwing myself into marketing as I continue to get comfortable in my author skin.

During my early college days, I had a private LiveJournal account. I've hung around Blogger occasionally, and now that I'm published, I thought it was time to give myself a space to document the writing life and share my enthusiasm for books and creative journaling.

As I wrote my novel and walked the self-publishing path, I realized my story was hard to place. I did not write a clean Christian novel. It's not Amish, historical, or thriller and suspense, It's about two college students, Martha and Ian, who have baggage. Martha is snarky and defensive to protect herself after she suffered from religious abuse. Ian is carrying pain from his adoption, even though he came to the States from Korea as a baby and has a very supportive father. My characters make mistakes as they try to sort out their futures. They struggle with boundaries in dating. They slip and use some foul language. But they believe in the gospel and let God move in their lives in extraordinary ways.

I enjoy stories that are outside the trends, break down barriers, and challenge literary norms. When I wrote my first creative non-fiction essay in college about my love for the Russian language, my composition professor encouraged me to take risks with my writing. I did and I never stopped. I love to play with language, formatting, POVs, and ambiguity. Just to warn you, I. Love. Ambiguity. I love it because you can never stop talking about a story that has multiple interpretations.

To give you an idea of the kinds of books I read, some of the titles I’ve recently enjoyed are The Girl Who Never Read Noam Chomsky (Jana Casale), The Place Between Breaths (An Na), and Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov).

And I'd love to feature book reviews starting next month. I'll read anything from Christian fiction, romance, poetry, memoirs, and general fiction. I'm especially interested in literary fiction and books that cover adoption issues. So stayed tuned; your book might show up here!

I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!