Synopsis

Mette Vedsø has written yet another moving and thought-provoking tale, giving voice to a child in distress. She has previously written about friendship, coming-of-age and horses in her award-winning novel, Hest Horse Pferd Cheval Love and Liv, Life, Leben, Vie, Love, and about a boy from a socially deprived home who gets a chance at a new beginning in Far from the White House. Now she is back with a glimpse into the life of a high-achieving teenage girl struggling with anxiety.

When the Heart is a Hand Mixer is included in The White Ravens 2020. Here is what they write:

During English class, Pi suddenly collapses. Everything goes black; dizziness; boom. At the hospital, she is diagnosed with anxiety disorder. Her parents, well-off workaholics for whom high performance and success are everything, only want the best for their daughter. They arrange therapy after therapy, so that she can cope with »the crisis« as quickly as possible, go back to school, and function well. Yet that doesn’t work. Pi takes the time she needs and makes friends with three extraordinary people in her apartment block: Gillian Brown, an elderly lady, plus Bianca and her daughter, Vicky, all three of them street-wise, warm-hearted, and imperfect. Pi gets to know different ways of living and realizes that she is perfectly okay the way she is; and at some point, so do her parents. Pi, who tells her own story, is curious, clever, and a good observer. She is definitely no sociophobe, but rather open-minded and helpful. The four inhabitants of the house quickly become very close, and Pi benefits more from this closeness than from any school lesson.