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Sharon Heath
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The History of My Body (The Fleur Trilogy Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Sharon Heath (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.7 out of 5 stars 22 ratings
Few of the eccentric inhabitants of her father’s Main Line, Philadelphia estate have much time for Fleur Robins, an awkward child with a devotion to her ailing grandfather, a penchant for flapping and whirling, and a preoccupation with God and the void. While her mother spends much of her time with her hand curled around a wine glass and her abusive father congratulates himself for rescuing babies from “the devil abortionists,” Fleur mourns the fallen petals of a rose and savors the patterns of light rippling across the pool. When she fails to save a baby bird abandoned in her garden, a series of events unfold that change everything.

For one thing, her handsome new tutor Adam Manus sees her unusual potential and introduces her to Nobel Prize winner Stanley H. Fiske, who brings her out to Caltech to mentor her in quantum physics. Fleur puts her preoccupation with the void to good use, making discoveries that promise to ease humanity’s dependency on fossil fuels.

But for all her brilliance, she is still a young girl, losing her virginity in a moment of naiveté and learning the hard way to value the irreplaceable gift of friendship.
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  1. Book 1 of 3
    The Fleur Trilogy
  2. Print length
    343 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publication date
    December 19, 2016
  5. File size
    1.5 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Sharon Heath's tragicomic novel is a laboratory to observe a homely caterpillar metamorphosing into a butterfly flapping her wings and changing the world. In the chrysalis of Heath's story, the butterfly effect transforms physics and biological facts into juicy, universal myth. Oh the joys and sorrows of inhabiting a young girl's body in the swish and swirl of sex, food, death, politics. Live them all here in their riotous complexity with Fleur, our historian of the body and the body politic.
- Carolyn Raffensperger, the Science and Environmental Health Network

I am going to be up front here. I love this book...Fleur Robins...is one of the most delightful, complex, and often contradictory child characters since Holden Caulfield in JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye...- Joey Madia, New Mystics Reviews

Fleur's capacity to leap from the sublime to the ridiculous and back in a heartbeat, her resilience, her intelligence, her love for the natural world and its creatures, her strenuous efforts to keep herself amused, alive, stimulated and out of the VOID are heartening signs of what our world needs. - News from the Muse, Naomi Ruth Lowinsky

From the Back Cover

"The History of My Body is a delicious meal you won't want to end. Sharon Heath's sense of irony is both savory and sweet, transporting us into a world where the improbable is at once real and mysterious, and where the sparkly presence of a memorable girl named Fleur will remind you that true wisdom is born of innocence."
-- Jeremiah Abrams, author of The Dreamtime Journey and Meeting the Shadow


"I wanted to ride the merry-go-round world of Fleur's mind all day long, where science meets spirituality, where aloneness is not necessarily lost, and where being lost doesn't always mean we're alone. The History of My Body calls us to reconsider who's an outsider and who is not, and to look more deeply into the value of mentoring and friendship as we engage with our fate."
-- Deborah Jiang Stein, author of Even Tough Girls Wear Tutus

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01N9JHZ5V
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas-Jacob Publishing, LLC; 2nd edition (December 19, 2016)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 19, 2016
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1.5 MB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 343 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 out of 5 stars 22 ratings

About the author

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Sharon Heath

Sharon Heath

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Sharon Heath writes fiction and non-fiction exploring the interplay of science and spirit, politics and pop culture. A certified Jungian Analyst in private practice and faculty member of the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles, she served as Associate Editor of Psychological Perspectives and Guest Editor of the special issue The Child Within/The Child Without. She has published in Psychological Perspectives and Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche, and she has blogged for HuffPost.

She is a contributor to Marked by Fire: Stories of the Jungian Way; Depth Psychology and the Digital Age; and Cultural Complexes and the Soul of America: Myth, Psyche, and Politics. She has given talks in the United States and Canada on topics ranging from the place of soul in social media to gossip, envy, secrecy, and belonging. You can learn more about her at www.sharonheath.com.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
22 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book enjoyable, with one mentioning they were fully engaged throughout. Moreover, they appreciate the author's extraordinary intelligence, and one review notes how the story touches on every emotion.

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7 customers mention "Enjoyment"7 positive0 negative

Customers find the book enjoyable and delightful to read, with one customer noting they were fully engaged throughout.

""The History of My Body" is such a good read that I looked forward to waking up and reading it in the middle of the night...." Read more

"...Enormously enjoyable and rewarding." Read more

"...I was fully engaged throughout the book both in mind and heart...." Read more

"...clever sense of humor and marvelous imagination make for a rich reading experience - lots of fun." Read more

5 customers mention "Engrossedness"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engrossing, praising its extraordinary intelligence, with one customer noting its remarkable erudition and another mentioning its lovely feeling for words.

"...Fleur is a girl of exceptional scientific intelligence who communes with roses, keeps journals of lists, and tries to survive in a house with an..." Read more

"...She also has the sweetest nature; I wished I could befriend her and invite her into my home...." Read more

"...of a person and her struggle to be heard and seen and understood is remarkably touching and her skill makes it very easy for any reader to identify..." Read more

"...Sharon Heath's wisdom about life is overflowing throughout in this most readable, wonderfully written book." Read more

4 customers mention "Story quality"4 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the story of the book, with one review noting how it touches on every emotion and has a marvelous imagination.

"...It is a unique story written from the point of view of an adolescent girl with Asperger's who looks at the world through the prism of her quirky and..." Read more

"...As the intriguing plot unfolded, and I was coming to the end, I began hoping that the author will write a sequel. I want to know what comes next...." Read more

"...The story touches on every emotion; pain, sorrow, joy, agony, anger, hope, and so on...." Read more

"...The author's remarkable erudition, clever sense of humor and marvelous imagination make for a rich reading experience - lots of fun." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Paula Smith-Marder
    5.0 out of 5 stars Not To Be Missed
    Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    "The History of My Body" is such a good read that I looked forward to waking up and reading it in the middle of the night. It is a unique story written from the point of view of an adolescent girl with Asperger's who looks at the world through the prism of her quirky and unusual mind. Fleur is a girl of exceptional scientific intelligence who communes with roses, keeps journals of lists, and tries to survive in a house with an alcoholic mother, an anti-abortionist father who saves babies while he hates children, and various colorful adults such as Sister Flatulencia who lives up to her name in a bodily manner. The book moves with precision and originality through four years of Fleur's life as her brilliance flourishes and her social naivete places her in precarious situations. As I read this coming of age story I thought of Mark Haddon's "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time," Muriel Barbery's "The Elegance of the Hedgehog," and, not infrequently, Marcel Proust's "Remembrance of things Past."
    10 people found this helpful
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  • Constance Crosby
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Delightful Read
    Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    One most captivating aspect of The History of My Body is the wonderful way in which Sharon Heath brought to life the fascinating, and unique cast of characters who inhabit this novel!
    From the first page I fell in love with the protagonist, a young, brilliant, Fleur with a most unusual way of relating to the world. She also has the sweetest nature; I wished I could befriend her and invite her into my home. Each character is so alive that I found I was passionately despising one, wishing I could come to the aid of another, and deep belly laughing at a third. As the intriguing plot unfolded, and I was coming to the end, I began hoping that the author will write a sequel. I want to know what comes next. And, so will you.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Dino
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Read
    Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    Sharon Heath's extended meditation on the development of a person and her struggle to be heard and seen and understood is remarkably touching and her skill makes it very easy for any reader to identify their own struggles with the heroine, Fleur. Her sense of her own deficiencies allows others to excuse their abusive behaviors, but as Fleur grows and discovers her own talents and extraordinary intelligence, we (the readers) are able to value and appreciate our own paths and problems from a new and revealing point of view. Sharon Heath writes beautifully, has a lovely feeling for words and word play, and both allows us to linger in certain moments and yet helps us stay in step with Fleur's growth. Enormously enjoyable and rewarding.
    6 people found this helpful
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  • CAT
    5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and Thoroughly Engrossing
    Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    This book was so, so hard to put down. It is passionately engrossing. All the characters are fascinating and the knowledge Sharon Heath has about mythology, physics, people, and many other aspects of life is remarkable. I was fully engaged throughout the book both in mind and heart. The brilliant child, coming into adolescence, who is awkward, maybe autistic, touches every part of one's soul, mind, and heart. The story touches on every emotion; pain, sorrow, joy, agony, anger, hope, and so on. Sharon Heath's wisdom about life is overflowing throughout in this most readable, wonderfully written book.
    10 people found this helpful
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  • norman james beckett,jr
    5.0 out of 5 stars Simply wonderful. A unique and original achievement
    Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Simply wonderful. A unique and original achievement. I've never read anything like it. The author's remarkable erudition, clever sense of humor and marvelous imagination make for a rich reading experience - lots of fun.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Bitsy
    5.0 out of 5 stars What a fun book
    Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    The book is interesting and fun to read. I know the author and see her sense of humor in it. There is a serious side and makes your heart go out to the character.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • H Katherine Clarke
    5.0 out of 5 stars Growing up is ever easy, Fleur is no exception.
    Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Being taken bt the hand through Fleur's world, an absolute pleasure you don't want to end, in a family of so much more than Just Mom and Dad.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Smoky Zeidel
    5.0 out of 5 stars The History of My Body is Pure Magic
    Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2012
    How can you not be captivated by a book whose fourth sentence reads, "Maybe it all would have happened differently if the bird on the front lawn hadn't given me my idea about my grandfather's balls"?

    Fleur Robins is an awkward child at best, with her obsession with "the void", religion (or, more precisely, spirituality), and her place in a world where mothers withdraw and fathers abhor their offspring. Between her alcoholic mother, her emotionally and physically absentee father who crusades to save unborn babies from "devil abortionists" yet seems to dislike Fleur and other children, and a string of household helpers that include a gas-riddled ex-nun named Sister Flatulencia who are better parents to Fleur than her biological set, it seems no wonder Fleur has a penchant for pinching herself and flapping her arms when she's stressed. The only person Fleur feels truly connected to is her grandfather, with whom she spends hours watching birds from the window of his room. But when she finds a baby bird abandoned in her father's garden and it dies in her care, Fleur sets events in motion that take her to the outer boundaries of what is and is not thought possible.

    Is Fleur simply odd, autistic, or a savant genius? When her paid companion and tutor, Adam, discovers Fleur has a mind for science, he introduces her to Stanley H. Fiske, a physics professor at Cal Tech, and Fleur goes from feeling odd and out of place to feeling odd and out of place, but with companions.

    This is a coming of age story like none you've ever read before. Heath's prose is decidedly spiritual, as when Fleur observes, "It occurred to me, then, that when people cover the earth with concrete, they close off its secret workings, making everyone so vulnerable to the void that they have to keep moving quickly." It took me decades to understand that concept, yet here was Fleur, 13 years old, and already attuned to this basic law of Nature.

    Heath's prose is also poetic. When Fleur says goodbye to a longtime friend, she makes this observation: "I saw our sadness leaking out of us in the form of bubbles floating skywards and watched them pop in a variety of interesting patterns." I would love to see what sort of poem the author could make from that one line. I would like to see her paint it.

    This book made me laugh, especially whenever Sister Flatulencia came into a scene, trailing the odor and noise of farts behind her. It made me cry, never more than when Fleur awkwardly has his first encounter with a boy and begins to learn the heartbreak, hopefulness, and tragedies of teenaged infatuation.

    Mostly, this book made me want to savor each page like I was eating a delicate peach, one so delicious I never wanted to finish it. It made me want to sit in my garden and see if I could actually observe a rosebud unfurl, something Fleur mentions she has never observed, though not for lack of wanting to.
    As for Fleur's idea about her grandfather's balls--well, you'll have to read that one for yourself. It is one of the most poignant scenes I've ever read in a book, in a book so unforgettable it will be difficult to top.

    Five stars to Sharon Heath for her stunning debut novel.

    (I was given a review copy of this novel by the author. I was not compensated for this review in any way. This disclaimer posted per an idiotic federal law.)
    13 people found this helpful
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