A Mouthful of Air

Compared to seminal feminist works such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, A Mouthful of Air is a powerful, tragic statement on motherhood, family, and survival.

A Mouthful of Air is a compassionate and wrenching portrait of Julie Davis, a young wife and mother torn between the love she feels for her family and the voice in her head that insists they’d be better off without her.
We meet Julie several weeks after her suicide attempt, on the eve of her son’s first birthday. Grateful to be alive, Julie tries her best to appreciate every moment—“this tree, that passing car, the pretzel guy up ahead on the corner. She has, for whatever reason, been given a second chance”—but her emotional demons are unrelenting, and she is slowly and quietly losing the battle.
Within the narrative of A Mouthful of Air is an argument about the nature of depression—its causes, cures, and the price it exacts from its victims. With spare, elegant prose, this brutally honest portrayal of family and self illuminates the power and complexity of the human psyche.
Originally published in 2003, A Mouthful of Air now includes an afterword by author Adrienne Miller."[A] smart, sensitive first novel."
—ELLE

"Koppelman nails every detail."
—The Boston Globe

"This is a story so convincing that never again will you pass a new mother on the street without wondering what's behind her mouthful of smiles."
—Judy D’Mello, The New York Observer

"Koppelman's prose is as spare and powerful as poetry."
—Mindi Dickstein, St. Petersburg Times/Tampa Bay TimesAmy Koppelman is the author of three critically acclaimed novels: A Mouthful of Air, I Smile Back, and Hesitation Wounds, a 2016 Independent Publisher Book Award winner. She produced and co-adapted the film adaptation of I Smile Back, starring Sarah Silverman, who received a SAG award nomination for the role. The film premiered at the Sundance, Toronto, and Deauville film festivals. Her latest film, A Mouthful of Air, is her first undertaking as a screenwriter, director, and producer. Amy lives in New York City with her family. She is an outspoken advocate for women’s mental health.