Handle with Care

‘Handle with Care’ is good advice. Louisa Reid’s novel issues this warning before launching the reader head long into an opening scene which is, in equal parts, enticing and overwhelming. In a similar fashion to the way one sometimes can’t help but look at the most uncomfortable of scenes, the idea of withdrawing from this powerful title is impossible once you have read the first few lines and, with such superbly crafted suspense maintained throughout, it is likely you will remain rooted to the spot until the climax of this exhausting, emotional ride of a read.

We begin with best friends Ruby and Ash in a history lesson, however as Ruby dramatically descends into the throws of an unanticipated labour this is quickly established as anything other than a conventional teen school story. The birth itself, though shocking and described with such visceral reality that it could easily become the sole talking point of a lesser title, is in this case just the beginning of a much wider story.

Told throughout in the alternating voices of the two girls, the reader is encouraged to consider much broader themes through the course of the novel: loneliness, neglect, judgement, the ever-increasing influence of social media, friendship. Indeed, it is friendship, and the complex development of an individual moral compass, that perhaps becomes the central theme as Ruby’s struggle evolves. It quickly becomes clear that the fate of this unexpected baby is as much woven into the fabric of Ash’s family as it is in Ruby’s, yet the difference between the two families is stark and so is the support available to the two friends. Whilst Ash admittedly comes to question the pedestal she has placed her parents on, Ruby evidently had no such illusions to begin with, and her searing loneliness and ability to both crave and reject support simultaneously is a recurrent theme and a significant factor in her demise. Critically, whilst their friendship is tested to limits most cannot begin to imagine and the ending does not provide any fairy tale comforts, it does offer hope. It encourages young readers to listen well, to have empathy even in the most difficult of circumstances, and to dig deep into the reservoir of friendship when all on the surface seems lost.

An important title for the issues raised and the honest conversations we can only hope it might provoke – both between teens as they navigate their way towards maturity, and with the adults in their lives, it would be remiss not to also acknowledge the quality that lies too in the crafting of this story. Reid masterfully reflects the two personalities of the central characters in the way their stories are shared: Ash’s thoughts are consistently carefully constructed, ordered and explained, whilst in contrast the verse style used for Ruby allows her inner troubles to spill across the page freely and erratically. The tragedy perhaps is that whilst her thoughts are expressed so starkly and agonisingly in prose, she is unable to make her voice heard in reality. A deeply affecting novel with an urgent message for all readers to enable important, timely conversations and to avoid judgement.