Kiwi author Josie Shapiro's award-winning debut explores the pleasure and pain of athletic success. 

Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts tells the story of Mickey Bloom, an awkward, bullied child who finds freedom and opportunity in running- until she's pushed to the brink.

This book awarded author Josie Shapiro the Allen & Unwin Prize for Commercial Fiction.

She says she was inspired by the feeling of pushing herself physically through amateur running and wanted to capture that feeling in words.

"I wasn't like my character Mickey, I wasn't an amazing, fantastic champion and I was never as fast as she is. But I love that feeling of pushing myself physically." 

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• Joan's Picks: Everything Is Beautiful and Everything Hurts and The Wager