Louisa Reid: The Delights Of A Dual Narrative
All but two of my novels have used two narrators so it feels like a good idea to try to explain why. In my first novel, BLACK HEART BLUE, the main characters are twins and the doubling at the heart of the story is reflected in the choice to give both sisters a voice. In HANDLE WITH CARE, my latest YA novel, the protagonists are best friends so, again, they’re closely linked and connected despite experiencing the world in very different ways. Giving both Ruby and Ash their chance to tell their version of events felt completely necessary to this story.
Of course, one of the most important things about writing a novel which features more than one narrator is to ensure that the narrative voices are distinctive. HANDLE WITH CARE is told from the perspective of Ruby, a sixteen-year-old girl, who gives birth at school with no prior knowledge of her pregnancy. She’s an only child from a single parent family and battles with feeling abandoned and alone. Ashley, our other narrator, is Ruby’s best friend forever, and she has a big happy family and high hopes of proving herself as an athlete. Both girls have their own character arc, of course, but another thing which sets them apart is that Ash narrates in prose, Ruby in verse. This makes it easy for the reader to differentiate between the characters – simply by looking at the page you can see who’s telling the story.
The use of verse for Ruby really heightens her emotional turmoil and sense of bewilderment and despair – emotions that are never far from the surface given her situation; as ever, the verse form works so well to convey powerful subjective experience. Ash, on the other hand, is more pragmatic and has a far more solid sense of her place in the world, albeit one that is shaken throughout the novel. In fact, there are moments towards the end of the story where Ashley’s voice takes on elements of Ruby’s as her world is also turned upside down. There’s a scene when the voices begin to overlap – and this is an especially interesting possibility of the narrative style as the girls try to connect in the darkest of moments.
Using multiple narrators allows both writer and reader to really appreciate how we don’t see the world through a single lens; to recognise that each person has a different experience and acknowledge how vital it is not to become narrow in view. One of my favourite YA novels featuring this narrative approach is Sarah Crossan’s and Brian Conaghan’s beautiful verse novel, WE COME APART. That novel is a weepie, too, and I think the technique works perfectly for emotive stories when it’s so important to make more of the spaces and gaps in knowledge between characters. This heightening of our sense of opportunities missed, broken lines of communication, and tragic misunderstanding is a key feature of HANDLE WITH CARE. It also allows for cliff-hangers and unanswered questions; where to leave one narrator’s story and switch over to the other is an essential part of the structure and tension of the novel.
One of my favourite novels, which I name check in the novel is FRANKENSTEIN which famously features multiple narrators, each story buried within the narrative of the one before. Reading different versions of the same events allows us to see characters from the outside as well as from within, and to appreciate that everyone has a story to tell. Once you hear someone else’s story, you might judge them very differently.
Louisa Reid is the author of the YA verse novels Gloves Off, nominated for the Carnegie Medal, Wrecked,which was selected for both the Read for Empathy collection and National Poetry Day and Activist. Her debut adult novel, The Poet, was published to critical acclaim. Louisa Reid has spent most of her life reading. When Louisa’s not reading she’s writing stories, or imagining writing them at least. As an English teacher, her favourite part of the job is sharing her love of reading and writing with her pupils. Louisa lives with her family in the north-west of England and is proud to call a place near Manchester home.
You can find Louisa on X & Instagram @LouisaReid
Handle with Care is published on 10 October 2024 | Guppy Books | £8.99 | Paperback | guppybooks.co.uk