"A major new talent. . . .""How to Breathe Underwater""is a dark and beautiful book." -"The New York Times Book Review
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"These stories are without exception clear-eyed, compassionate and deeply moving. . . . Even her most bitter characters have a gift, the sharp wit of envy. This, Orringer's first book, is breathtakingly good, truly felt and beautifully delivered." -"The Guardian"
"Orringer's engaging wit, her eye for social detail, her ear for patterns of speech and thought, and her insights into human nature proclaim her a writer to be reckoned with." -"Los Angeles Times"
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""Captivating. . . . Orringer limns the ordinary, terrifying time between childhood and maturity so skillfully." -"San Francisco Chronicle
""Pure gems, rollicking along with scintillating prose and surety. Just when you think they will stop-and lesser writers would stop-they keep going with inexorable momentum." -"Ploughshare
""The harsh landscape in which Orringer's characters dwell corresponds to the fierce beauty of her writing. Even the grimmest of these stories conveys, along with anguish, a child's spark of mystery and wonder." -"The New York Times
""Beautiful, so wise and vital. . . . It's impossible not to feel for the pained and alienated young women in Orringer's stories, and impossible not to be stunned and moved by their quests for redemption. More so than any debut author in recent years, Orringer proves that the kids are all right, even when they're not." -"The Austin Chronicle
""Utterly authentic . . . the passage through childhood and puberty is strewn with dangers and roadblocks. But what [Orringer] does with those hazards in her stories is something altogether magical." -"The Seattle Times
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"Eloquent. . . . Orringer sifts the inexorable sparks of sexual awakening and unearths moments of brittle surprise and bitter triumph. . . . Haunting." -"Miami Herald
""Unclouded by sentimentality . . . Orringer endows her situat