Golden by Jade Timms

Eddie (Edwina) was the last person to see her brother-in-law Jackson alive. The trauma lingers and has damaged her connection to her grieving sister, Viv, and her parents; her twin brother, Pat, is now mostly ignored; her friendship group are now almost distant memories; and her hold on life is fraught. It is her work at the Juice Bar that gives her structure, but everything else is a mess. She lives in a coastal area where surfing and the ocean are important, but Eddie can barely consider heading back to the water, and it takes all her emotional strength to start training for the iconic Mud Run instead. The arrival of the new guy in town restores a ‘heart beat’ to Eddie’s life, but her heart-ease is far from secure and she is brittle often. Can Eddie recover or has distress become her only existence? Where is the hope she needs?

This is a teen drama with a liberal serve of emotional angst, grief  and psychological distress, with a side salad of veganism, family quirkiness, teen partying and friendship, and all served with blended smoothies. There is a seriousness to Eddie’s struggles that means the reader feels her pain from almost the first page. To be estranged from your own twin, to have lost almost every friend because of your own attitudes - these are deeply troubling examples of her psychological distress. Consequently, readers should be mature enough to cope with the mental trauma and grief experienced by many in the story. Teen friendship is shown with a sense of fun (and occasional risk-taking)  and sometimes same-sex attraction. Although there is a sense of hope at the end of the book, there are many dark  periods with a forlorn central character. Written for a teen audience 16-18, this is a character-driven walk through grief and trauma and so readers must be prepared for the seriousness of this life journey. Mental health is a victim following a traumatic grief, so those already battling their own issues may find this difficult to read.

Themes: Friendship, Romance, Grief, Trauma, Mental distress, Surfing, Community events, LGBTIQ characters.

Carolyn Hull