Review: Girls of Paper and Fire - Natasha Ngan

Girls is a really touching, meandering story about finding ways to be okay with terrifying realities and discovering your own strength when you feel powerless. I think that it deals with sexual abuse with remarkable maturity, which is more than can be said of many YA titles that touch upon it.

It's one of those books that hinges on a longditudinal element with a certain routine, and tells a grandiose story around the journey, rather than exhausting moment to moment revelations.

It's not a demonstrative story. There's plenty of tension, but there's so much love between friends, lovers, and family here that underlies boiling emotions. Characters are keen to apologise and understand one another rather than hurl hurtful remarks and storm out of rooms, which again is very refreshing for YA.

I found the sensitivity and peace that dawns in certain chapters and moments a very pleasant surprise. Girls of Paper and Fire is one of those comforting narratives that presents terrifying tragedies and uncomfortable truths specifically to soothe and heal them later. It was a warm, thoughtful book about love and emotional power, and I loved it.