Talking at Night

Quiet, melancholic, poignant, engaging, sweet, gentle, complicated, raw … there are so many adjectives I could use to describe this lovely debut from Claire Daverley, and I still wouldn’t be able to quite capture it.  All I can say is that when I read the final words and closed the book, I felt content, and that’s such a nice feeling to be left with.

Will and Rosie go to the same high school but haven’t talked until one night at a bonfire where he inexplicably opens up to her. His past has given him a bad boy reputation, so he’s guarded with his emotions, but he feels safe with Rosie.  She, on the other hand, is a rule-follower and good student whose future goals, along with her twin brother Josh’s, have largely been dictated by their successful mother. Will has no plans for uni, while musically-talented Rosie is being steered to Oxford, yet somehow this mismatched pair become best friends.

Despite their different life goals and Rosie’s insistence that they just stay friends, their feelings intensify until a single night breaks them both and changes the entire course of both their lives. Over the many years that follow, circumstances, guilt and each one’s almost paralyzing inability to make choices for their own happiness, push them together and pull them apart repeatedly. Locations, jobs and partners change, but one thing is constant: their friendship. They fight, they laugh, they ignore each other, they seek each other out, but no matter what - they stay.  Is that enough or are they both chasing a youthful fantasy?

Daverley tells a story that is plausible and beautifully written. Rosie and Will are complex and messy, and while romance plays a role, it’s less about “Do they end up together?” and more about “Who do they become?” She doesn’t sugar-coat depictions of mental illness, struggles with identity, addiction, family dysfunction, and trauma. The story feels real but never heavy. As a reader, I could both relate to and sympathize with Rosie and Will, even when they weren’t at their best. Visually-rich storytelling and a strong supporting cast added to my enjoyment - I loved Will’s grandmother and his sister Amber, particularly. They tell it like it is!

My only complaints - and they’re minor - are that at 400 pages it felt like the story could be tightened up a little, and there were a LOT of unnecessary commas which I had to start tuning out to keep the flow going properly. Some good editing and this story is gold!

★★★★ ½ 

Thanks to Pamela Dorman Books, Edelweiss and author Claire Daverley for this DRC to honestly review. It’s now available.