Description
Ella and I have been best friends since grade one. We can spend hours talking about everything and nothing. We know each other’s greatest fears, things that irrationally annoy us, and ideal career if money and skill weren’t an issue. If there was only one Hartford Bakery brownie left in the whole worldand it was somehow in my possession, Ella is the only person I’d consider sharing it with.
Life is pretty good for sixteen-year-old Abby. Okay, her grandma doesn’t remember things anymore, her relationship with her mum is increasingly strained and she accidentally kissed her cousin’s cousin on the weekend, so things aren’t exactly perfect. But everything is manageable with her best friend, Ella, by her side.
And with Ella’s brother, Will, interesting and attentive, on the sidelines.
When new girl Chloe arrives, Abby is pleased to be the one to show her around, to welcome her to the group. But Abby doesn’t imagine Chloe fitting in so well or quite so quickly. And before long Abby is feeling just a little left out, a little unsure of Ella’s friendship. In a moment of anger and confusion she wishes something bad would happen.
When it does—with tragic consequences—everything shifts again. And Abby has to face her own feelings and work out what friendship really means. Megan Williams’ brilliant debut Let’s Never Speak of This Again is a tender, moving story laced with humour, about friendship, about the things that test it, and about what matters most.
Review
Sixteen-year-old Abby has a pretty good life. She is good at school, has a fairly normal family, plays goal attack in the school’s senior netball team and has an established friendship group, including her forever best friend, Ella.
But when the new girl Chloe arrives and Abby has to show her around, Chloe quickly entrenches herself into their group and becomes really close with Ella.
And then the worst happens - Ella’s older brother, Will, who has always been great to Abby, dies in a car accident. Abby is devastated, but can she share her loss with Ella, who seems to be doing OK? And besides, Ella now has Chloe to confide in. Can Abby find a way to keep her friendship group together asthey navigate their way through the challenges of life?
Filled with important themes of growing up, changing friendships, the importance of family, emerging sexuality and coping with loss, this is a wonderful Australian debut novel that is best suited to readers aged 14 and older.
Reviewed by Rob
