Cosima Unfortunate Steals a Star by Laura Noakes

Title: Cosima Unfortunate Steals a Star

Author: Laura Noakes

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: HarperCollins Australia

Published: 7^th June 2023

Format: Paperback

Pages: 304

Synopsis: Exciting, funny, moving – and featuring joyous and authentic disabled representation – Cosima Unfortunate Steals a Star is the middle-grade debut of 2023.
Cosima Unfortunate has spent all her life at the Home for Unfortunate Girls – a school where any disabled children, or children deemed different, are sent, whether their families want it or not. It is there that she meets her friends – Pearl, Mary and Diya – and they start to practise mini heists involving the theft of cakes, biscuits and other sweet goodies.

But when Cos finds out that Lord Francis Fitzroy, the explorer behind the Empire Exhibition, is planning to adopt them, she and her friends plot the biggest heist of their life. Instead of fondant fancies, they’re going to steal Fitzroy’s prized tiara, containing the legendary Star Diamond of India! But, as they start preparing for the day, Cosima finds herself drawing ever closer to discovering the one secret she’s always wanted to know – the truth about her parents…

~*~

Cosima Unfortunate has been living in the Home for Unfortunate Girls for her whole life, a miserable life under her guardians the Stains, who don’t care about the disabled girls in their charge. The home is a place where disabled girls live, are hidden away from society, and called defectives and degenerates by a very ableist, intolerant society. Cosima and her friends, Diya, Pearl, Mary and the other girls who spend their days unpicking rope in the schoolroom. Diya invents all kinds of things in secret, and the girls are determined to show the world what they can create and do -that they are more than their disabilities, which is a common thing with disabled people even today. Cosima’s adventure centres around the Empire Exhibition, and a plan to thwart Lord Fitzroy and his desire for twenty disabled girls – but to do so, the girls need the help of Agatha Noone, a mysterious lady engineer, who, like Cos and her friends, doesn’t exactly align with what society expects of her. And so begins the biggest heist Cos has ever undertaken – which will bring her closer to finding out who her parents are.

Cosima’s story gives disabled children and people a voice – and shows that many of the disabilities people have today were around throughout history, but they may not have had the names we know them as now. Cos walks with a walking stick, and has joints that dislocate, which today would be a variant of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome – hEDS/hypermobility, Mary has neurosis, which sounds like it would be anxiety. Pearl sounds like she might have autism, or something along those lines. And Diya has an acquired disability after contracting polio. The other girls have a range of disabilities, such as Deafness, and others that require mobility aids. They all have families who visit them on occasion – apart from Cosima. The girls are the focus of the novel, determined to show the world that their disabilities do not define them, and that they have as much right to be a part of society as those who wish to gawk at them if they are out in public or hide them away. I loved that these girls worked together and showed people what they could do – that it was society that made things harder for them and kept them or tried to keep them downtrodden and forgotten.

As an historical novel, it allowed the accuracy of empire, class, gender roles, and ableism, and the treatment of those who were different to exist alongside characters who were determined to change things for women, disabled children, and in the case of Diya, to return stolen items to where they originally came from. Everything in this book is exciting and relatable – disabled readers will see themselves, or something of themselves in the characters and story, in the attitudes that Cos and her friends face from society, and the way a disabled person navigates society. It felt welcoming and reassuring – the kind of book that lets disabled people know that they are not alone, that whilst every disability and the way it is experienced is different, anyone with a disability deserves respect and to be part of society in the way Cos and her friends want to be. It also shows that it is often circumstance that prevents disabled people from being who they know they can be, but also, through Cos’s experience, shows that a disabled person can have good days and bad days, days where they can do things, and days where they need to rest, or days where they simply push through.

This is a hopeful book, with a few moments of despair. Yet Cos and her friends never give up hope, and Cos is determined to uncover Lord Fitzroy’s dastardly plan, expose the Stains and get a better life for her and her friends. Filled with brilliant disabled characters who have their valuable strengths and talents that help propel the novel along, and shows that there are many stories to tell, and that there are different ways to tell these stories, especially when they are positive and empowering. Cosima’s story also highlights and acknowledges the isolation of being disabled – because when you’re disabled, there will be so many things you can’t access for a range of reasons – and this can change and vary from person to person. I liked that Laura’s story acknowledged all of this. Not only do stories like this let disabled people know they are not alone, but it also shows non-disabled people what it can be like trying to navigate a world that doesn’t always accept you and who you are, or try to accommodate you.

I loved this book – and I hope it finds its way into the hands of people who need to read it, and who need to see themselves in literature. It features a diverse, disabled cast. Diya and Cos were my favourite characters, and the hope within the novel is wonderful and beautiful. think it has pulled historical fiction, ideas around disability rights and the role of women in society, and abuse of power together in an accessible way. It does raise questions, and it does give our heroes a satisfactory ending, which felt like it summed up the novel nicely as a stand-alone, but also one that could be the beginning of a series. Either way, I enjoyed reading this book. It gave me everything a good book should, and it feels like one that is going to become a must-read for lots of people.