Deep Down Iola

"Mehlman's droll satire follows a teenager with an extraordinary gift who tries to forge her own future-much to the universe's chagrin...A witty and profound story of self-discovery." Kirkus Reviews

Iola Dyson, 17, has a bizarre gift for talking depressed classmates off the roof. Literally.

At her boarding school, whenever a student is spotted on the ledge of Flyer Hall, threatening to plunge to their death, no one calls the campus police. They call Iola, who dashes immediately to the scene. Possessing as she does a curious, almost otherworldly insight into the human condition, Iola has never once failed to talk down a desperate teen and prevent a tragic suicide.

How did a varsity sprinter who has never left the state of Alabama come to have this superpower? Only Iola knows. But she's never told anyone. She can't tell anyone. Her secret is so cosmic-so berserk-that telling anyone would undoubtedly land her in a psych ward.

Finally, when the burden of Iola's secret takes her to a breaking point, she tells her story to a lonely local college professor. The moment she does so, the universe turns against her in terrifying ways.

Deep Down Iola is a funny, suspenseful, fantastical adventure. But more than that, it is the story of a young woman's struggle to live her life her own way.