She has a very clinical way of looking at her life, and her interest in physics allows her to analyze through an unsentimental lens. I spent a lot of time wondering what specific interests I would give Aysel and how those interests would shape her worldview. WARGA: In writing this I tried to remember my own tendencies as a teen to collect pieces of music and art that helped me better understand certain confounding things about life, death, and mortality. How did her interests in science and music contribute to the language of life and death for you? HERRINGTON: I love how Aysel’s voice is sarcastic and honest, and then lights up in this poetic way when she talks about physics or classical music. Aysel was a vessel for me to tackle questions about the demon of depression, grief, and the ultimate saving power of love and human connection. In many ways, the novel actually began with Aysel and her voice. Instead I think my grief, my love for him and our friendship, served as inspiration.

But the book isn’t in any way based on him. JASMINE WARGA: Yes, I wrote this in the few months following the unexpected death of a very close friend. How did this real-life occurrence translate into fiction? SARAH HERRINGTON: I know you started this book after the death of a friend. We spoke with Warga about the alchemy of real life contributing to fiction, the magic of the Ohio River, and the physics of death and love. Words collide like particles, transforming pain into something ultimately, redemptive. Written after the loss of a close friend, Warga tackles teenage depression and isolation with empathy, honesty, and heart. As their suicide date nears, however, Aysel begins to wonder if her unbearable fixed heaviness is shifting, and if there could be a different kind of potential energy between Roman and herself. She meets Roman, a teenage boy from a neighboring town, in an online Suicide Partners forum and they team up to plot and support each other in their demise.

In Jasmine Warga’s stunning debut novel, My Heart and Other Black Holes (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins), Aysel, a 16-year-old physics enthusiast and outsider, suffers from depression and an obsession with plotting her own death.

My heart black holes