Paralysed

With its rather blunt title, it's no surprise to discover that this is a story of a young, gifted sixth-former called Simon who damages his spinal cord in a rugby accident and has to learn how to negotiate a very different life. The story is told in three voices; Simon's, his best friend Daniel and his girlfriend Emma. All three struggle with loyalty, guilt, love and despair but if this sounds sentimental, Ashworth's writing skills, her obvious research and the ability to weave a number of stories together, means that she avoids many of the pitfalls of less skilful 'triumph over tragedy' stories. The voices of these young people are realistic and complex. Ashworth does a very good job of showing the strengths of all three characters, their dilemmas and fears, but perhaps she understands Emma best of all. Simon's ability to move on may happen with unlikely speed - he goes from the terror of discovering that he will be paralysed for the rest of his life to calm acceptance in a matter of minutes - (and I've never heard anyone with a spinal cord injury describe themselves as SCI's or 'crippled', unless the latter is being used with heavy irony) but this is outweighed by an engaging and moving story with an optimistic, clear sighted view of living life as a wheelchair user; a view that is still unusual in fiction and in life. Like many books for this age group, the photo of the girl on the front cover and the blurb on the back that promises romance, suggest that this story is aimed at girls.