Let’s Never Speak of This Again by Megan Williams

Title: Let’s Never Speak of This Again

Author: Megan Williams

Genre: Contemporary

Publisher: Text Publishing

Published: 29^th August 2023

Format: Paperback

Pages: 224

Price: $24.99

Synopsis:

 Winner, Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing, 2022

 Shortlisted, Small Publishers’ Children’s Book of the Year, Australian Book Industry Awards, 2024

 Commended, Book of the Year for Older Readers, Children’s Book Council of Australia Notables List, 2024

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 world and 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.

~*~

Abby and her best friend, Ella are sixteen, and in their final years of high school. They’ve been best friends since they were six, and they’re inseparable. Except this year, Abby’s grandmother doesn’t remember her, she has a strained relationship with her mother (but really, what teen doesn’t), oh and then there’s the time she kissed her cousin’s cousin at a birthday party. But none of that prepares Abby for the turmoil of the year when new girl Chloe comes to school and becomes part of Abby’s group with Ella, Jade, and Alice. Soon, Abby is feeling left out – as though Chloe has slotted in so easily, Abby isn’t really part of the group anymore – in fact, Chloe seems to be dominating Ella’s time, and Abby isn’t sure how she feels about it. She’s angry and confused – and wishes something bad would happen.

Yet when it does, Abby isn’t prepared for it and what it takes away from Ella – and this is where things shift and change, where Abby, wanting to help but feeling helpless and unable to articulate how she feels, nor see how much Ella needs her as she watches from the periphery, she sees things falling apart, and Abby also learns that she has to grow up and make important decisions for herself, and that leads her to discover what being a true friend is.

This novel is told in snippets rather than chapters, rather like images of what Abby sees and experiences as she comes to terms with changing friendships, loss, grief, responsibility and her own understanding of friendship, during a turbulent time – sixteen and the end of school. It’s written in a way that many teens, young adults and indeed adult readers will find it relatable through the feelings Abby feels, her anxieties about school, her friends, and everything else. At times I sensed that Abby wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do when she finished school – something I am sure many readers will relate to as well, because at that age – indeed even in your twenties sometimes – how do you really know what you want to do with the rest of your life? It’s such a hard decision, and Megan showed this eloquently and realistically. She allowed Abby to be authentic and genuine, to let her flounder and fumble as she navigated a tricky year at high school accentuated by grief and death, by conflicts with friends and family, and allowed Abby to come to terms with grief in her own way so she could help the people who really needed it.

Another thing that made Abby’s story come to life was that she was allowed to be messy, and she was allowed to be awkward – she was genuine, she didn’t let people pressure her into things, even when she felt conflicted over loyalties and things she had agreed to, which made her someone that I think teenage girls may see a lot of themselves in. She wasn’t the kind of girl to follow trends – at least from what I understood. She didn’t let people influence her too much, and just like a lot of people, she wanted to fit in and have friends – and that’s something I think we can all relate to – finding the people who will like us just as we are, who won’t make us change ourselves and who we can turn to when times are tough. It is a book that doesn’t hold back from emotion, from rejection and the difficulties of navigating life as a teenager through mature and immature decisions – things that teens do throughout their time as a teenager, because everyone struggles growing up. And with its distinct Australian flavour, it stands out as fantastically relatable for Australian readers, for whom many of the references will be something they know, and for older readers, can be a good dose of nostalgia in this authentic story that is filled with experiences most people have had.

This has to be one of my favourite young adult books because it focuses on friendship – a relationship often used as a side story for a romance, yet it is friendship, and changes in friendships that everyone regardless of age, can relate to, The rocky moments, the moments of support, and when things seem to end all together – this book has it all. The beautiful show don’t tell language drew me in and captured what Abby was going through and feeling so well – even when in the moments of uncertainty, those feelings were pushed front and centre. I think this is a book that readers will adore, and it has a universality about it as well as a contemporary relevance that makes it well-deserving of the prizes it has won. Another great young adult book.