A Quiet Kind of Thunder

By Author / Illustrator

Sara Barnard

Genre

Adventure

Age range(s)

11+

Publisher

Pan Macmillan

ISBN

9781509810987

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

12-01-2017

Synopsis

Steffi doesn't talk.
Rhys can't hear.
They understand each other perfectly.
Love isn't always a lightning strike. Sometimes it's the rumbling roll of thunder . . .

From the bestselling author of Beautiful Broken Things, Sara Barnard's A Quiet Kind of Thunder is stunning love story about the times when a whisper is as good as a shout.

Steffi has been a selective mute for most of her life - she's been silent for so long that she feels completely invisible. But Rhys, the new boy at school, sees her. He's deaf, and her knowledge of basic sign language means that she's assigned to look after him. To Rhys it doesn't matter that Steffi doesn't talk and, as they find ways to communicate, Steffi finds that she does have a voice, and that she's falling in love with the one person who makes her feel brave enough to use it.

Reviews

Sixteen-year-old Steffi has suffered from selective mutism for most of her life, only able to talk to close family and her best friend, as well as developing paralysing anxiety over recent years. In an attempt to prove to her parents that she would be capable of surviving at university, she starts taking medication and promises herself the first year of Sixth Form will be different. On the very first day, however, struggling without her best friend to support her, Steffi is introduced to Rhys, a new deaf student. Communicating through faltering sign language, Steffi and Rhys become friends and Steffi starts to find her voice. I really liked this book. Sara Barnard captures the often somewhat awkward nature of navigating life and relationships as a young adult. Although Steffi has diagnosable selective mutism and anxiety, we can all identify with the feeling of not being able to get our thoughts across to others. Steffi and Rhys's blossoming relationship never feels forced, and I loved their jokey conversations as well as the more serious ones. Communication is the key theme of this novel, with different methods portrayed through the use of distinct typefaces. These all work together to show Steffi's inner and outer frustrations, as well as her growing confidence as the story progresses. Her thought processes reflect her spiralling anxiety in way that feels genuine. Although I cannot say I speak from personal experience, I felt that deafness and mental health - and by extension disability in general - in this novel was treated respectfully and sensitively. It tackles the pre- and misconceptions that hearing impaired people face on a daily basis, and the frustration this causes. It also highlights the lack of understanding society has towards people with different needs, especially during the scene in the hospital. I would recommend this book to fans of contemporary YA fiction and those who enjoy a bit of romance. 320 pages / Ages 12+ / Reviewed by Ruth Wyss, school librarian.