THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE

A teen girl finds herself at sea after her family makes a drastic life change.

Six months ago, Mia had a meltdown at school following her best friend’s painful betrayal, and then her overbearing, germophobe mom, a former waitress, made a stunning announcement: The entire family would be leaving their Minnesota apartment and living full-time on Graceland, the 43-foot sailboat that Mia’s father restored. Though the sunny, salty sea life and the isolation from people (and their diseases) seem to agree with her mom, Mia feels differently. She’s turned Harvard physicist Lene Hau into a sort of imaginary friend, but she longs for someone real to discuss science with. As a plan takes shape for Mia to go live with her paternal uncle in Tennessee and attend a regular high school, she crosses paths with gentle Alby, an Australian boy who’s been sailing around with his street musician parents for years. Alby exposes Mia to some intriguing ideas from the world religion books he studies. Then she meets Nisha, whose glamorous life promises excitement. These new acquaintances lead to unexpected romantic entanglements for Mia to solve alongside her familial complications and processing of past bad experiences. Mia’s story tenderly explores themes of sexuality and neurodivergence with sailing and science details accompanying her often-painful introspection as she learns to navigate uncertainty. Mia’s and Alby’s families are cued white; Nisha’s is Indian.

Emotional and broad-ranging.