Review: What the World Doesn't See by Mel Darbon*

 *I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity.

Title: What The World Doesn't See
Author: Mel Darbon
Genre: Young Adult

Trigger warnings:  Parental Loss, Death Of A Parent, Parental Abandonment

Rating: ★★★★

What The World Doesn’t See is the story of Maudie and Jake, two siblings who lost their Dad a couple of years previously. Their Mum had been really struggling with grief following the death of her husband and one day vanishes. As Jake is autistic, their aunt makes the choice to put him into foster care and Maudie, completely disagreeing with this choice, takes things into her own hands and kidnaps Jake in an attempt to force their Mum to come back to them.

The story is told through a perfectly paced dual POV narrative, alternating between the perspectives of Maudie and Jake. The character of Jake provides a really authentic representation of autism and one of my favourite things about the book is the inclusion of chapters written from Jake’s perspective as it gave Jake his own voice in the story. It’s explained in the author’s afterword that she did this intentionally “because I wanted to give my brother a voice that he couldn’t have for himself” and as an advocate for amplifying autistic voices in literature, this choice and the reasoning behind it was really special to me. We don’t see enough books putting autistic characters at the centre of their own narratives so I think this really sets What The World Doesn’t See apart from other books.

We also have neurodivergent adult representation through the character of Jiera and I found this to be a really important inclusion as it reminds readers that neurodivergent children become neurodivergent adults and therefore it’s not just children who may experience some of the difficulties explored through Jake’s character.

The story provides a moving exploration of the grief experienced by both adults and children following the death of a loved one. I particularly found the exploration of Jake’s understanding of death really interesting and it was really moving to see his understanding of where his Dad had gone building as the book progressed.

I adored the sibling bond between Maudie and Jake and how fiercely Maudie advocated for Jake. The blossoming relationship between Maudie and Gerren was also very sweet. It was arguably rather juvenile at times when you think about the ages of the characters but this is understandable given the age range the book is targeted at.

I did struggle in parts with the maturity of the character of Maudie as in some aspects of the book she clearly had a mature head on her shoulders (demonstrated through how well she looks after Jake) but in others she seems to not have the grasp on reality that a 17 nearly 18 year old would have. For example, she thinks that the police won’t be involved in the case of the abduction of a vulnerable child from their foster home. To a degree I can understand that this could be linked to the trauma of parental loss and then parental abandonment not making her think rationally, but I do still think that it didn’t feel like the actions someone approaching adulthood would think appropriate.

What The World Doesn’t See is a must-read for young adult and mature middle grade readers to build empathy and educate on neurodivergence and the experiences of neurodivergent individuals. It’s a powerful story with so much heart to it and I know it will really stay with anyone who reads it.