Saving Charli by Di Walker

Title: Saving Charli

Author: Di Walker

Genre: Contemporary

Publisher: Scholastic Australia

Published: 1^st July 2023

Format: Paperback

Pages: 288

Price: 16.99

Synopsis: Who are you when your other half is gone? Twelve-year-old Charli knows no other way of being than as a twin. But when her twin sister, Freya, succumbs to a lifelong battle with illness, Charli, consumed by grief, retreats into a tent in her backyard. Closed off from her family and friends, Charli risks losing not only her other half but her whole self. Without her twin, who is left to save Charli? From Di Walker comes a story of loss, the importance of friendship and the transcendence of love, even if it is sometimes hard to see.

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Twelve-year-old Charli is a twin, and her sister, Freya, is sick all the time. She needs constant care, and Charli often feels like she has had to make a lot of sacrifices as she watches her mum and dad focus all their attention on Freya. Charli has her friends, Queenie, and Blair, but they’re concerned that Charli is pulling away from everyone, even Freya. And everything is either for Freya, or everyone only sees them as a pair – Charli and Freya. Charli longs for her own identity, but she’s also very much a part of Freya, even though she enjoys having swimming and knitting with Nan as her things. Then, just before they start high school Freya dies, her lifelong battle over. And now, Charli is bereft. Who is she without Freya? Did she cause Freya’s death? Feeling lost and alone, and unable to tell anyone how she feels, Charli retreats into a tent in her backyard, refusing to come out or talk to anyone, and ignoring all attempts from her family and friends to help her.  Charli’s friends are determined to help her – and show Charli that she is a whole person –  and Charli will also have to find a way through her grief and see that everyone is there for her.

Saving Charli is told through the alternating perspectives of three friends finishing primary school and embarking on high school as one of them suffers great loss in her family. Charli, and her friends, Queenie, who loves music and reading, and Blair, who never stops talking, tell the story, starting at the end of year six. Six months earlier, Charli’s twin sister Freya had almost died from pneumonia, and ever since then, Charli has been withdrawing – and she feels like nobody understands her as her own person, because they’re always relating her to Freya. The story is filled with grief from the beginning, as Charli is at first trying to show that she is more than just Freya’s twin, and more than just the person who helps Freya with everything at school. As a reader, I felt for her, because I could see that she didn’t want to be that person all the time. She had her own needs and interests, and she was too young to take on caring for her sister. I think her internalising of how she felt for so long, things that she never said to anyone worked for her character because as readers, we needed to understand her. I also liked that it took time to understand her and her feelings about her family, herself, and Freya because they were so complex. At times, it seemed like even Charli wasn’t sure what she was feeling, because like many of us, she struggled to articulate them. Not being able to put your feelings into words is a reality for people of all ages – and seeing this reality in a novel like this that deals with disability as well showed that it is okay to not always know how to talk about your feelings. But when you do, you may feel better.

Di Walker also portrayed the reality of disability sensitively through Freya. Whilst we only ever see her through Charli, Queenie, and Blair’s eyes, I loved that everyone tried to include her – it showed that she was still a person and I think illustrating what she could and couldn’t do allows for readers to understand that disabled children and people will have limitations. A book like this is a good way to discuss and learn about this, and also teach children and readers that not all disabilities are like Freya’s. Like Freya though, all disabled people want to be part of society and be included, even if they have to work out different ways to participate. Freya was one of those characters whose presence is felt throughout the novel.

The novel shows that friendship is a powerful too, and for Charli, Queenie and Blair are the ones who can help her. The only ones it seems, despite the community helping Charli’s family. They are the only ones who can get through to her, to pull her out, and find a way to show her that she only needs to take things one day at a time. I loved that Queenie shone through at this point, giving her quietness a chance to help her friend. Because the story is told by the three girls, there are times we only get Queenie and Blair telling the story. When this happens, we get to understand how everything makes them feel – they’re grieving too, and yet, they’re having to move forwards with their lives and high school. These scenes gave insight into the types of people they were and how they could help Charli, but also, how they made sure that Charli would have people around her when she got back to school. When they had saved her.

This was a heartbreaking book, dealing with death, illness, and the aftermath of loss and grief, and how it can completely immobilise you, and change your life and the way you see the world. And it shines a light on the importance of friends and family and being able to talk about your feelings, to let people in when you think you’re being left out, or when you think you’ve done something wrong. Di Walker’s style is evocative and provokes deep emotions and she makes issues relatable for all readers – younger readers in particular. The intensity of Charli’s feelings pour from the page, and they feel so real, and so relatable. It is something that Di Walker is exceptional at, and she has also managed to capture the grey areas of life and growing up. Not everything is perfect and not everyone is perfect – and that’s okay, as long as you’re not bullying or hurting anyone. The joy in this book was the friendship and how all the characters connected with each other, and I hope other readers enjoy this one too.