White noise by Raelke Grimmer

In the humid and heat-soaked climate of Darwin city life we get a glimpse into the life of a family of two, still coming to grips with the death of one. Grief lays like a cloud over every aspect of Emma’s life, and her father too is struggling, but hiding his pain under the pressures of his work as an ED doctor and his role as a single parent. Friendship connections help Emma and her father, but being a teenager means that there are many layers to life – school demands, dreams and hopes for the future, relationship possibilities. Into this familiar plotline lands the bombshell of the diagnosis for Emma of her autism. Pieces that had made no sense, become clear, but things are not easier. Emma must navigate the grief she feels and the struggles of her mental meltdowns that can arise without a lot of warning. She also is targeted as a future Institute of Sport talent and must weave a heavy training schedule into all the other demands of her life. And yet, even when things seem complex, Elliot seems to see past her diagnosis and is attracted to her in a gentle and understanding way. Will this high school relationship survive despite Emma’s grief-state, trauma, injury, illness? What lies ahead for them all?

This is a nuanced high school-based story, with profound insights into the difficulties of negotiating grief and autism. Emma’s autism could be described as high-functioning, but the description of the short-circuitry that impacts her functioning would be helpful for anyone who goes to school with someone diagnosed with autism. The complexities of grief are also explored in compassionate ways. The overall impact of this book is a tender understanding of these issues, with the overlying complexities of the teenage years.  Friendship and romance must also negotiate the random barriers and hurdles of conflict and misunderstanding. I enjoyed this gentle story told through the perspective of Emma herself, and the impact of the Darwin setting with the pervasive heat is also refreshingly different. Anyone who has visited Darwin will recognise the localities referenced, but it is good to have a book set in the Top End. Recommended for readers aged 14+.

Themes: Grief, Autism, Family life, Darwin, Romance, Same-sex attraction.

Carolyn Hull