Everything is beautiful and everything hurts : a novel / Josie Shapiro.

"How far would you go to achieve your dreams"--Cover.

Can you ever truly run away from your past? Mickey Bloom: five foot tall, dyslexic, and bullied at school. With a mostly absent and hostile father, Mickey feels she's no good at anything. Until she discovers running. Mickey's new-found talent makes her realise she's everything she thought she wasn't - powerful, strong, and special. But her success comes at a cost, and the relentless training and pressure to win leaves Mickey broken; her dream in tatters. Years later, when Mickey is working in a dead-end job with a drop-kick boyfriend, her mother becomes seriously ill. While nursing her, Mickey realises the only way she can overcome her grief, and find herself - is to run again. A chance encounter with a former Olympian sees Mickey re-ignite her dreams. The two women form an unbreakable bond, as Mickey is shown what it means to run in the right direction.

Winner Allen & Unwin Fiction Prize