Talk under Water (Kathryn Lomer, UQP)

When 16-year-olds Will and Summer meet online, they bond over their shared admiration for Jessica Watson—the youngest person to sail solo and unassisted around the world—and their love of fishing and ferry-riding. Will’s delighted to discover that Summer and her family live in Kettering, the small seaside town in Tasmania where Will grew up, and when Will’s dad gets a new job back in their hometown, Will can’t wait to finally meet Summer in person. But there’s something Summer hasn’t let on: she’s deaf. At first, Will can’t understand why she’s kept this secret—but as the two get to know each other in real life and Will begins learning Auslan, he realises that meaningful communication is about more than just words. Talk under Water is a sweet and charming novel about friendship, trust and finding your way in the world, and although the lead characters occasionally seem too good to be believable, you’ll still find yourself gunning for them. This is Tasmanian writer Kathryn Lomer’s third YA novel, and while it revisits themes she’s tackled in previous books—particularly family, relationships and expressing yourself in a new language—her exploration of the deaf community adds a fascinating dimension to the story.

Carody Culver is a freelance writer and editor and part-time bookseller at Brisbane’s Avid Reader bookshop