The Happiest Girl in the World

Starred review from January 1, 2021

When she's six years old, Sera Wheeler thinks gymnastics is fun. Then her YMCA instructor tells her mother that Sera has a gift and could be an elite gymnast. She and her new friend Lucy get closer to their dreams of the Olympics when they are invited to train at a camp run by a gymnastics power couple. At camp, Lucy has some bad stomach pain, so Dr. Eddie Levett comes to the cabin to treat Lucy. The visit is the start of Eddie's long-term abuse of Lucy. Lucy tries to report him several times, but none of the adults will listen to her. Desperate to keep her Olympic dreams alive and to prove that her family's time and monetary sacrifices were worth it, Sera turns on Lucy and their friendship fractures. VERDICT As she did with the Catholic Church in Mercy House, Dillon lays bare the sins of the U.S. gymnastic world and all those who enable this sport that forces young girls to give up their childhoods and subject their bodies to harsh physical routines and drugs. Dillon sticks the landing with this layered book about abuse, drive, family expectations, and trauma.--Lynnanne Pearson, Skokie P.L., IL

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 25, 2021
Dillon (Mercy House) explores the dark side of elite gymnastics in her engrossing ripped-from-the-headlines latest. Sera Wheeler is a high-flying gymnast with sights set on the Olympic team. Together with her best friend and fellow gymnast, Lucy, and at the behest of her mother, Sera all but gives up her childhood in order to train and compete. Hours upon hours at the gym, searing pain from near-constant injuries, relentless pressure from coaches, and the looming threat of aging out of the sport define her daily life. When Lucy confides to Sera that the doctor who treats her and other gymnasts has been touching her inappropriately, Sera faces a choice: if she supports Lucy, she’ll be ousted from the gymnastics world by coaches and sport officials who demand complete obedience; but if she doesn’t, she’ll be turning her back on her best friend. Dillon’s nuanced treatment makes for a stirring and complicated picture. While the team doctor is a clear villain, the national gymnastic administration, which has a history of ignoring complaints, and Sera’s mother, whose desire to support her daughter’s dreams becomes tied up with her own insecurities, both outwardly want the best for Sera but end up breaking her. As time and competitions pass, Sera learns to see through the constant manipulation and finally comes to terms with the decision she made. Dillon’s excellent psychological drama will stay with readers.

February 1, 2021
When Charlene Wheeler found her daughter doing a headstand in her crib, she couldn't have known Sera was destined to be an Olympic hopeful. There was no way to predict the countless hours of driving, the thousands of dollars in gym fees, or the emotional toll of raising an elite athlete. And Sera couldn't have predicted the injuries, the abusive coaches, or the sacrifices she'd have to make for the thing she loved most. Having clearly done her homework, Dillon (Mercy House, 2020) captures the sheer physicality of a sport many of us experience only in Olympic highlight reels. Fearlessly tackling the darker sides of the sport--coaching scandals, eating disorders, and brutal injuries--Dillon explores the highest highs and lowest lows of Sera's career. Plenty of gymnastics icons are name-checked, though some are given the thinnest of veneers to keep the book fictionalized (the K�rolyis become the Baloghs, Larry Nassar is Eddie Levett). Whether readers can name every Olympian gymnast from the past 40 years or can't tell a Yurchenko from a Mustafina, Dillon's latest novel will enthrall. A natural next read for fans of Hannah Orenstein's Head over Heels (2020) or the Netflix documentary Athlete A.

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