Five Feet Apart is a novel for young adults published in 2018 by Rachael Lippincot with collaboration from Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Laconisin, in which the author highlights the struggle of teenagers with cystic fibrosis (CF) and how this affects many aspects of their lives. This is a fiction novel but has aspects of real life disorders. The main characters Will Newman and Stella Grant struggle with a disorder known as cystic fibrosis which means that their bodies produce extra mucus which can get into their lungs. This causes it to clog the lungs, making it difficult for them to breathe. People with this disorder can not get too close because they can risk cross contamination of bacteria and get very sick which can be very deadly. This means that the main characters have to be six feet apart per the hospital rules. Will also has Burkholderia cepacia (or B cepacia) meaning that he cant get replacement lungs and it is incurable. The doctors at the hospital are trying to develop a treatment to cure it. Will having this disorder means that he can not get close to Stella and risk her contracting this disorder before her lung replacement.
As Stella and Will get to know each other and start getting along, it is harder for them to stay away from each other so they make a new rule for themselves, to stay five feet apart instead of six. This could be very dangerous for them so they make necessary precautions such as wearing masks when around each other. At the end, Will knows that after Stella gets her lung replacement he can not risk her cystic fibrosis coming back or anything happening to her so he leaves for good. This novel is very informative about these disorders and interesting. I would recommend this book to people who read and enjoyed The Fault In Our Stars because the stories are similar.
