What the World Doesn't See

Maudie is seventeen. She and her brother Jake who is thirteen, lost their Dad to cancer almost two years prior to the start of the story. Jack has severe learning difficulties, so Maudie and her Mum are not certain how much he understands about Dad’s death.  Two days before her mother’s wedding anniversary, Maudie’s Mum suddenly disappears. No one knows where she’s gone or for how long. Jake is put into temporary foster care, Maudie is seething. She desperately needs to bring her family back together, so she decides to kidnap Jake from his foster home in an attempt to shock her Mum into coming back. Will it work? And what will they each learn in the meantime?

This is a heartbreakingly raw and real story of grief and how one family attempts to come to terms with it. Darbon’s portrayal of Jake, who is one of two narrators along with Maudie, is one of the most truthful I have seen of a person with severe learning difficulties. Jake needs twenty-four hour care and supervision and he narrates his story in the third person. Unlike other portrayals, Jake is able to play an active role in the narrative and is not just a cipher. Readers will be both amused and exasperated by him in equal measure.

The relationship between the two siblings is highly nuanced in that Jake’s dependency on her scares Maudie at times but it is always deeply loving as evidenced by Jake’s scribbles which he interprets for the reader as saying ‘Jake Maudie love’.

This is a vital read whether you are familiar with people with learning difficulties or not. It is essentially a narrative about family dynamics and love.