I chase the dragon again. The white curly smoke drifts around me. The animal in my gut leaves me for a while, and I touch peace…
Faith Emily Hansen just wants to be loved and to live without the weight of addiction. But the relief that she gets from being wrapped up in the cozy little cotton ball of heroin is impossible to ignore. Faith’s story starts in her earliest days, before drugs, before her family falls apart. She eventually becomes consumed by the need to “chase the dragon," the heroin addiction that seems to keep the Darkness at bay, but leads her to live on the street. The determination to find love and comfort that lures Faith to drugs is ultimately the same stubborn force that can drive her to recover.
Praise & Recognition
Faith’s narration feels authentic… Breaking Faith is a thoughtful, exhaustive, and realistic account of how a child’s life can get derailed without appropriate love, nurturing, support, and (likely) some professional psychiatric care after witnessing a horrendous event… Recommended.
CM: Canadian Review of Materials
Told in Faith's tortured voice, this novel traces the path of despair as she loses everything that a growing young woman needs to survive and thrive.... Graziani's heartrending novel is a gritty, realistic voyage through a teen's path of despair and the all-too-tempting panacea of self-medication through drugs, which soon destroys those who would "chase the dragon." Many older teens will connect with this believable portrait of a teen experience with homelessness and addiction.
School Library Journal
Breaking Faith is an unflinching look at mental illness and addiction. The events of Faith’s life are heartbreaking, the more so for being completely believable. The themes of mental illness, drug addiction, and life on the street as a runaway are explored in realistic detail.
VOYA
Breaking Faith is a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions.... E. Graziani provides a deep look into a life we need to witness so that we might walk with the Faiths of this world before we need to pull them up and rescue them or worse.
CanLit for Little Canadians
At first glance, Breaking Faith is a highly captivating novel for teens; however, it's also subtly educational... Thought provoking and genuine, it highlights how just loving and nurturing someone can be a life-saving act.
Canadian Children's Book News
A gripping read that will impact even the most jaded teenager.
CM: Canadian Review of Materials
… the overall impact is as depressingly powerful as it is true to life.
Resource Links
Canadian Children's Book Centre's Best Books for Kids and Teens - Fall 2017 2017 - Commended
In the Margins Award Recommended Fiction List 2018 - Commended
E. Graziani is a teacher and self-proclaimed life-long learner who believes in constantly setting new goals for herself and working hard to achieve them. Her love of history, word artistry, and storytelling help to fuel these goals as do her students who particularly enjoy her classroom read alouds. She has worked with the Alzheimer Society of Canada to raise awareness and educate people regarding this disease. She resides in Stoney Creek, Ontario, with her husband and four daughters.
