My Heart Underwater

Fans of Adib Khorram and Randy Ribay will love this coming-of-age debut about a Filipina American teen drowning under pressure and learning to trust her heart. 

Corazon Tagubio is an outcast at the Catholic school she attends on scholarship. Her crush on her teacher, Ms. Holden, doesn’t help. At home, Cory worries that less-than-perfect grades aren’t good enough for her parents, who already work overtime to support her distant half-brother in the Philippines.

After an accident leaves her dad comatose, Cory feels like Ms. Holden is the only person who really understands her. But when a crush turns into something more and the secret gets out, Cory is sent to her relatives in Manila. She’s not prepared to face strangers in an unfamiliar place, but she discovers how the country that shaped her past might also redefine her future.

This novel takes readers on a journey across the world as Cory comes to understand her family, her relationships, and ultimately, herself.

“My Heart Underwater is a lovely, magnificent wonder of a novel that will leave you with the rarest of tender heartaches: life-affirming, life-inspiring, life-loving; a heartache of joy and becoming. You won’t walk freely, or willingly, from these pages.” —New York Times bestselling author Marjorie Liu

* A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2020 * A 2022 ALA Rainbow Booklist Selection *

But discovering who you are means facing the secrets everyone keeps. What happens when the only person you can trust is the one you can’t be with?

A Secret First Love: When her crush on her teacher, Ms. Holden, becomes something more, Corazon’s world is turned upside down, forcing her to confront her identity and desires. A New Life in Manila: Exiled to the Philippines after her secret is revealed, Cory must navigate a new culture and a relationship with her half-brother, Jun, whom she barely knows. Unraveling Family Secrets: In Manila, Cory uncovers the complicated history between her mother and estranged grandfather, revealing the painful reasons her family left the country in the first place. A Story of Resilience: With her father in a coma back in California, Cory must find the strength to redefine her future and learn to trust her own heart against all odds.