When Elephants Fly by Nancy Richardson Fischer

When Elephants Fly by Nancy Richardson Fischer is an enchanting novel about eighteen-year-old Lily who has spent the last eleven years coming to terms with the abuse she suffered at the hand of her  schizophrenic mother. Lily knows she is at high risk for succumbing to schizophrenia herself, but she has a very strict twelve-year plan to avoid all possible triggers. That plan is put in danger when she, as an intern reporting for the local newspaper, witnesses an elephant at the zoo reject her own newborn calf, Swift Jones. The article she writes about the event leads to the possibility that the zoo will lose Swifty to a circus on the other side of the country. Determined to continue her job without upsetting her twelve-year plan, Lily tries to remain neutral and unbiased, but can anyone really do that around a sweet baby elephant?

Fischer writes carefully, but clearly, about schizophrenia, both as experienced by Lily's mother Violet and of the possible mental illness pursuing Lily herself. 

Crazy is genetic....I've officially entered the danger zone, ages eighteen to thirty, when females with my genetic history are most likely to manifest symptoms of schizophrenia.

Because she knows it could be coming for her, Lily has sworn off drugs, alcohol, boyfriends, stress, and even caffeine in hopes that if she can just make it to thirty she will be safe. She also describes several distressing moments in her early childhood when her mother's illness took hold of her, causing Violet to hurt her daughter.

There is some very awkward writing about the alternating attraction and revulsion she feels toward a young man she meets at the circus and there is some brief sexual content, but otherwise I felt this story was engaging and very well written. It doesn't treat mental illness as an "interesting plot device" or as a toy for the reader's entertainment. Instead it is presented with accurate statistics and with both hope and honest reality. As she says:

The only promise with schizophrenia is that there's both hope and despair...But there are all different kinds of happily-ever-after.

I really enjoyed this book and I think it would make a wonderful topic for discussion, for adults or for older teens. I will leave you with the last bit of the Author's Note:

 My wish for every single one of you: live in the moment when you can. Find something or someone to love. Fight for what's important. Change the world one elephant calf at a time.

I second that.