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Debut author Karen Fortunati has released a beautiful book into the world with The Weight of Zero. Catherine, the main character of the book, is living with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. So far for Catherine, she has had two manic episodes as well as a depressive episode in which she attempted suicide.

For Catherine, she has this fear that the great Zero, that low and dark depression will return. She attends therapy, takes medication, and begins an intensive outpatient program. Despite doing all of the so-called right things, she has the persistent fear that Zero will return, and she prepares herself for it. She creates a plan of one thing to do before that day comes, and she initially sets out to achieve it.

For Catherine, she deals with the loss of friends from her diagnosis, but for the first time since that happened, she is beginning to find friends. The problem, however, is that she is so fearful of the past repeating itself, she does not tell them of her diagnosis.

The book continues with exploring these friendships, her relationship with her mom, the grief of missing her grandmother, and the impending return of the Zero.

This book is beautiful. There are so many things this book does well. The adult characters in this book are wonderful. So often in YA mental health lit books, the adult characters are presented as wildly unhelpful. Instead, here they are presented as flawed, well-intended, & caring characters, ones who also own up to their mistakes. One of my favorite characters was Nonny who was brilliantly written. The use of the different treatment methods was also done very well. Additionally, the use of the male relationship figure was treated perfectly as well. In way too many books, it feels like a relationship is used as a way to “fix� a character. This, however, is not the case here.

Fortunati has created an absolutely beautiful piece of art, and it is an absolute must-read.