Boston Herald 'A Mouthful of Air' will leave you breathless By David Exum / bostonherald.com Friday, May 2, 2003 "A Mouthful of Air" by Amy Koppelman ($23 MacAdam/Cage) Amy Koppelman certainly did her homework when she set out to pen her riveting debut novel "A Mouthful of Air".

Instead of hammering out the novel as quick as she could, Koppelman, a graduate of Columbia's MFA program, took the
time to pour over the classics like Tolstoy's literary masterpiece "Anne Karenina".

And while Koppelman's saga about Julie Davis, a young mother recovering from a failed suicide attempt while battling post-partum depression, isn't nearly as magnificent as the aforementioned novel by Tolstoy, this new writer should definitely be considered a rising star.

"'A Mouthful of Air' is my answer to Tolstoy and to any other man or woman who chooses to discount the absolute power mental illness can have over its victim," said the 32-year-old Koppelman, whose novel takes place in modern day New York City.

Although Koppelman finished her novel in 2001, it wasn't shortly after that Andrea Yates, the Houston mother who was spared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison for drowning her five children in a bathtub made headlines around the world.

"I think a disservice was done not just to Andrea Yates but to all women", said Koppelman, who noted Yates should have been admitted to a mental hospital instead of a state prison after her trial. Yates attorneys used in her defense that the convicted killer was suffering from post-partum depression at the time of the murders.

"Something like 50 to 80 percent of women suffer from post-partum depression," said Koppelman, a mother of two small children herself. "For most (new mothers), "the baby blues" as we like to call it, end after 10 to 12 days. But for 10 to 15 percent of women, their "baby blues" stay with them and develop into full-blown major depression."

In light of the Yates tragedy, getting a publisher interested in Koppelman's book wasn't easy.

"I had been rejected again and again," said Koppelman. "I didn't understand because here was Andrea Yates on the cover of Newsweek. Weren't we finally ready to address the subject matter?"

Many of the rejection letters Koppelman received stated clearly that her subject matter was too dark for the proposed publishing climate.

While "A Mouthful of Air" is about the affects of depression and the seriousness of the disease, it is also illustrates that depression also plagues people who seem to have it all in life.

Despite the love of a doting husband, plenty of affluence and a gorgeous baby boy, Julie, the book's main protagonist and narrator of the novel, is rocked by depression and is reeling after a failed attempt to end her life.

"My hope is for Julie's story to become a cautionary tale," said Koppelman, whose writing has appeared in the New York Observer and Lilith magazine. "I tried to the best of my abilities to convey Julie's desire to love her children, her husband and to appreciate her life. I want people to understand that what Julie is thinking and feeling is physiological. That none of it means she is a bad mother."

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