Wish You Were Her by Elle McNicoll

Elle McNicoll has become one of those rare authors whose books I will pre-order without knowing anything about them, because I know I will enjoy them immensely. As with Keedie and Some Like It Cold I went straight to West End Lane Books to buy a personalised, signed copy. Even if you aren’t in the market for signed copies, go to the website at the link and support one of the best independent bookshops around.

Wish You Were Her is the second of her books set in Lake Pristine, but it is not a direct sequel. That proves to be an inspired choice on her part, as she reintroduces characters from that book, two of whom become very important in the story. This story is set five years after the events surrounding Jasper’s return to Lake Pristine, but she does not dwell on what the characters have been doing in the meantime. The original book is referred to, but you don’t need to have read the first book to thoroughly enjoy this one. That said, for readers of Some Like It Cold the situation we find Grace and Jasper in fulfils the promise of that first book, but more of that later.

The Story

Allegra Brooks is one of the biggest movie stars in the world. She is 18 with the world seemingly at her feet, but she needs somewhere to disappear to for the summer. Lake Pristine has a book festival each summer, and for Allegra, the daughter of the local bookseller, that seems like the perfect place to hide out. Even before she arrives, she is getting on very well with one of the employees through a series of anonymous and occasionally mischievous emails. She meets the two employees who work for her Dad, Simon, the confident, quick witted and charming alpha male and Jonah, who is permanently defensive, often rude and socially inept. Jonah is autistic, which makes him great with the organisation and the prehistoric computer, but Simon is the one who deals with people. Allegra and Jonah get off to the worst possible start when he is extremely rude to her, but Simon is charm personified. It has to be Simon who is her mystery emailer doesn’t it? Initially, Lake Pristine closes ranks around her. She is the daughter of George Brooks, not the one of the biggest movie stars on the planet so she can relax safe in the knowledge that she won’t be the target of gossip, photos or reporters, as long as she doesn’t leave the town. Is Lake Pristine big enough for her, though? What should she do about her continuing email chats? How will she react when she finds out who it is? More to the point, how will they react? Finally, how can she keep the secret of her autism diagnosis when it could negatively affect her life and career if anyone finds out about it? When it turns out that she is not as safe as she thought, the answers to those questions take her to very surprising and difficult places.

My thoughts

Every book I read from Elle McNicoll, and I’ve now read four, is a delight and a reflection of my own experiences as someone on the autistic spectrum. As ever, I have learnt about myself along with the characters as McNicoll once again builds up world that is viewed from a very specific viewpoint. Very early on, the book made me laugh when Allegra muses about revealing her autistic diagnosis and says, ‘Maybe I should, I don’t know, come out of the library’! Later on it caused a very different reaction when one of the other characters talks about a whale whose song is at a completely different frequency from all the others, meaning it is always alone. The occasional humour that is found in the ways that autistic people navigate the neurotypical world is often overshadowed by the darker moments of never really fitting in. The idea that Allegra is such a good actress because she has spent a lifetime trying to read people and fit in is very interesting. It’s a similar dynamic to her other Lake Pristine book and in fact the main protagonist from Some Like it Cold, Jasper Montgomery reappears to take a pivotal role. You look at two outwardly brilliant, successful and popular characters and realise that there is more than one way of being autistic in an allistic world. The appearance of Grace, my favourite character from the first book is a delight. She has blossomed in the five years since the first book, and the belief that Jasper showed in her has proved to be completely justified. An indication of how much McNicoll’s books get you to care about the characters is that I was delighted for her because she deserved it and I actually found myself smiling when reading about her successes. You don’t need to have read the first book, but if you have it adds the depth that only the best storytellers can achieve.

Once again, Elle McNicoll has written an irresistible romance that makes autism a central part of the story without it feeling preachy or forced. She is doing more to bring understanding and empathy to readers young and old than any other novelist writing today. If you haven’t read A Kind of Spark or Keedie check out my reviews and put those two and the two Lake Pristine books right at the top of your TBR pile.