Fighting Words

Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Fighting Words
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Text Publishing Co
Country
Australia
Published
1 September 2020
Pages
1
ISBN
9781922330628

Fighting Words

Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Bestselling author Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s confronting, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting story for young adults.

Della can’t work out why her adored older sixteen-year-old sister Suki screams in her sleep. Suki has always been Della’s protector, especially after their mother went to prison and her boyfriend took the sisters in. But who has been protecting Suki?

Della is in trouble at school for having a big mouth, but after she stands up to the class bully other girls rally to her cause. When Suki tries to kill herself, Della decides it’s time to tell their secrets and speak out about the terrible things that happened to Suki. Bound by love and trauma, these two sisters must find their own voices before they can find their way back to each other.

Based on the author’s personal experience, this gripping and essential story explodes the stigma around child sexual abuse. Written from the heart, with tenderness, compassion and humour, Fighting Words is about finding the words to talk about the most difficult things in young adults’ lives.

Review

The latest novel by the author of The War that Saved My Life is a powerful, first-person story from the perspective of ten-year-old Della, who has been the victim of a sexual assault. She and her sister, Suki, are in foster care with a frank but supportive foster mum. The story is age-appropriate with no graphic details, and gently reveals what happened to the girls prior to them finding safety with their foster mum.

Suki starts a part-time job and Della must navigate a new school, a bully in her classroom, and find friends, all while recovering from their terrible childhood. When Suki breaks down from the burden of her past trauma, the story feels dark. But there are also moments of lightness and humour, with true friends and supportive adults. Della finds her voice to fight back against the bully at school, to request more understanding from her teacher and to speak out in court. Suki also rallies with counselling and support.

The author was motivated to write this book because she was a victim of childhood sexual abuse herself. She wanted young people to know that talking about trauma can help you to heal, that abuse is never a young person’s fault – no matter the situation, and that it can happen in all sorts of families. The book was published in the US as middle-grade fiction, yet released by the Australian publisher as young adult fiction, no doubt because of the potentially distressing content. At the back of the book are a number of Australian-focused resources for children and their carers, as well as discussion points for a therapeutic or classroom situation.

This is an important and beautifully written story that is ultimately uplifting but should be given to a young person with the awareness that further discussion and support may be needed. But for those readers who recognise themselves in the narrative, it will be an important lifeline. Recommended for ages 11+.


Angela Crocombe is the manager of Readings Kids.

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