Gravity

Sometimes you fly. Sometimes you fall.

A dream at Olympic gold in ski jumping. It’s a dream that’s been the exclusive property of male Olympic athletes
Until now.

For seventeen-year-old Ellie Engebretsen, the 2011 decision to include women’s ski jumping in the Olympics is a game changer. She’d love to bring home the gold for her father, a former Olympic hopeful whose dreams were blown along with his knees on an ill-timed landing. But can she defy the pull of gravity that draws her to Kate Moreau, her biggest competition and the girl of her dreams?

How can Ellie soar through the air when all she feels like doing is falling hard?

Here’s video of Sarah Hendrickson, Olympic Ski Jumper and member of the US Women’s Ski Team, greeting my guests at the Launch Party for GRAVITY!

Praise for Gravity:

“A spicy novel about two young women daring to fly free in life and love while accurately depicting the thrill of ski jumping!”

~ Sarah Hendrickson, Olympic Ski Jumper and Member of the US Women’s Ski Jumping Team

“Filled with vivid imagery—from describing the heat between the sheets to the cold of ski jump slopes—coupled with teen girls leaping deeply into love, betrayal, and the chasm between, Rich’s frequently funny and sometime philosophical novel Gravity soars.”

~ Patrick Jones, author of Chasing Tail Lights and Minnesota Book of the Year Runner up

“Juliann Rich has taken as much care in crafting Gravity as Ellie has taken in honing her sport of ski jumping and exacting revenge on her ex. Gravity is the intriguing tale of old love, new love, losses and gains. Rich executes an intense inrun, a brilliant take-off, a demanding freefall, and a graceful landing with this novel. If storytelling were an Olympic event, and I were a judge, I’d award Gravity a perfect 10.”

~ Eva Indigo, author of Tilt-a-Whirl and Laughing Down the Moon

Honors:

Finalist, 2017 Lambda Literary Finalist in Children’s and Young Adult Category

Winner, 2017 Golden Crown Literary Award

Excerpt:

If I’ve heard Dad preach it once to the Lab Rats, I’ve heard him say it a million times.

Take off like you’re ending a bad relationship.

And he should know.

Step 1: Don’t create unnecessary friction.

In other words, don’t let the skis brush the side of the tracks during the inrun. It’s a stupid way to lose speed.

Step 2: Break up. Don’t be broken up with.

Wait too long and a jumper can find herself trying to launch off nothing but thin air. Take off while there’s still something solid under your feet. Seems like that’s one bit of advice I should have taken from Dad.

Step 3: Lean into your death.