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Tearing Myself Together
Hilzy's life is forever coming undone - and so is her body. Friendship is just one more thing she can't count on ... until she has to. A wonderful YA novel that explores found family and forgiveness from the CBCA shortlisted author of Peta Lyre's Rating Normal.
It's Year Twelve exam time, and Hilzy has a lot on her plate. She's just lost her job, she and her sister Max are struggling to make ends meet, and her childhood best friend Imogen recently dobbed them in to child services. The friendship is over.
There's a new spark of joy when Hilzy grows closer to Dawn, the hippy girl who's had a crush on her for ages. But when Hilzy ends up in hospital with a busted knee, it's only Imogen who understands what it's really like living with an invisible disability. Things are falling apart, but maybe it's not all on Hilzy to put them back together again.
A smart, funny and profound exploration of the messiness of love, friendship and bodies from the author of Peta Lyre's Rating Normal.
Perfect
- Readers seeking authentic, contemporary teen experiences
- Lovers of coming-of-age and found-family stories
- Empathetic depiction of disability and neurodivergence
It's Year Twelve exam time, and Hilzy has a lot on her plate. She's just lost her job, she and her sister Max are struggling to make ends meet, and her childhood best friend Imogen recently dobbed them in to child services. The friendship is over.
There's a new spark of joy when Hilzy grows closer to Dawn, the hippy girl who's had a crush on her for ages. But when Hilzy ends up in hospital with a busted knee, it's only Imogen who understands what it's really like living with an invisible disability. Things are falling apart, but maybe it's not all on Hilzy to put them back together again.
A smart, funny and profound exploration of the messiness of love, friendship and bodies from the author of Peta Lyre's Rating Normal.
Perfect
- Readers seeking authentic, contemporary teen experiences
- Lovers of coming-of-age and found-family stories
- Empathetic depiction of disability and neurodivergence
272 pages, Paperback
Published April 28, 2026
About the author
Anna Whateley
4 books41 followersAnna Whateley writes young adult and children’s fiction. She holds a PhD in Literature from Queensland University of Technology and has studied and worked in both in Australia and the UK.
Peta Lyre's Rating Normal was nominated for the CBCA YA book award.
Peta Lyre's Rating Normal was nominated for the CBCA YA book award.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 14, 2026
A beautiful book about not just living with illness, but thriving. Whateley remains my favourite YA author 💕
June 9, 2026
I’m so glad books like this exist in the #loveozya space and are willing to explore hard topics. Tearing Myself Together is at its core about resilience, vulnerability, finding hope in the dark places and the people who love and stand by you in the hard moments.
I can’t think of many (any?) other Aussie YA books that have such intersectional representation and are written with such sensitivity. A very needed book the incorporates characters with multiple disabilities including EDS, Raynaud’s syndrome, chronic pain, osteochondritis dissecans, skin cancer (melanoma) and autism/ADHD (AFAB neurotype), as well as incorporating a sapphic relationship.
There is also an exploration on the impact of addiction and how this can destroy families, resulting in parental abandonment/estrangement and resultant poverty, and a teen carer trying to navigate the medical system to protect her sister. If it sounds like a lot, it is, but for many people in these often invisible and underrepresented communities, this story will feel like a warm hug of acknowledgement.
I can’t think of many (any?) other Aussie YA books that have such intersectional representation and are written with such sensitivity. A very needed book the incorporates characters with multiple disabilities including EDS, Raynaud’s syndrome, chronic pain, osteochondritis dissecans, skin cancer (melanoma) and autism/ADHD (AFAB neurotype), as well as incorporating a sapphic relationship.
There is also an exploration on the impact of addiction and how this can destroy families, resulting in parental abandonment/estrangement and resultant poverty, and a teen carer trying to navigate the medical system to protect her sister. If it sounds like a lot, it is, but for many people in these often invisible and underrepresented communities, this story will feel like a warm hug of acknowledgement.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you very much Allen & Unwin and NetGalley for providing me an eARC to read and review.
WHERE IS THE CHATTER ABOUT THIS STORY??? During Autism Month, no less!
Look, I’m not going to lie, I’m a sucker for an Australian YA coming-of-age story (it’s literally in my Booksta bio), and even more when the story explores multiple intersections of mental and physical disabilities (autism, ADHD, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome + Raynaud’s syndrome, and skin cancer across several characters), class, how addiction (gambling specifically) tears families apart, and sexual and gender identity. And this is all in a mere 250 pages!
Hilzy – our protagonist and her older sister are scrambling to make ends meet as her 12 exams approach and she loses her job. Adding to the angst is a fractured friendship with Imogen – the sisters’ childhood bestie and practically third sister – after she accidentally dobbed them into child services. But how can we make this story even more angsty? Add in a blossoming romance between Hilzy and Dawn, a girl at school Hilzy has been crushing on for a while.
Despite all this drama, the story has an eternally hopeful element to the story. Even when Hilzy severely injures her knee, requiring surgery and intensive care in hospital, you can tell she’s forever trying to maintain a positive façade and downplay her very serious disabilities for her older sister. Anyone autistic or with ADHD (or why not both) will know the perpetual struggle of minimising your own discomfort so as to not be “a problem” for anyone else is very real. For Hilzy, this means making jokes about the way EDS alters her ability to move through the world and making light of situations to try and reduce the emotional and mental load on her sister, who is trying to hold their small family together (older sister syndrome anyone?).
As Hilzy learns that being vulnerable with her trusted friends opens her up to not only forming the beginnings of a sweet romantic relationship with Dawn, but also restoring a tenuous friendship with Imogen, who has her own chronic health issues, needing multiple surgeries to remove UV-related skin cancers. The story is interspersed with Imogen’s journal entries in verse, poignantly exploring how isolating and terrifying invisible disabilities can be.
Nothing is perfect by the end of the story, but it ends on a hopeful note that emphasises the importance of having a community of chosen family to rely upon and being empathetic and gentle with yourself when living with multiple disabling conditions.
NB: I will note that a SC (who is already established as a toxic figure) makes a heinously racist comment aimed at another side character. Since, I’m white, I can’t speak definitively whether this was well addressed or not, but it is addressed not long after it occurs.
5 stars rounded to 4.5.
WHERE IS THE CHATTER ABOUT THIS STORY??? During Autism Month, no less!
Look, I’m not going to lie, I’m a sucker for an Australian YA coming-of-age story (it’s literally in my Booksta bio), and even more when the story explores multiple intersections of mental and physical disabilities (autism, ADHD, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome + Raynaud’s syndrome, and skin cancer across several characters), class, how addiction (gambling specifically) tears families apart, and sexual and gender identity. And this is all in a mere 250 pages!
Hilzy – our protagonist and her older sister are scrambling to make ends meet as her 12 exams approach and she loses her job. Adding to the angst is a fractured friendship with Imogen – the sisters’ childhood bestie and practically third sister – after she accidentally dobbed them into child services. But how can we make this story even more angsty? Add in a blossoming romance between Hilzy and Dawn, a girl at school Hilzy has been crushing on for a while.
Despite all this drama, the story has an eternally hopeful element to the story. Even when Hilzy severely injures her knee, requiring surgery and intensive care in hospital, you can tell she’s forever trying to maintain a positive façade and downplay her very serious disabilities for her older sister. Anyone autistic or with ADHD (or why not both) will know the perpetual struggle of minimising your own discomfort so as to not be “a problem” for anyone else is very real. For Hilzy, this means making jokes about the way EDS alters her ability to move through the world and making light of situations to try and reduce the emotional and mental load on her sister, who is trying to hold their small family together (older sister syndrome anyone?).
As Hilzy learns that being vulnerable with her trusted friends opens her up to not only forming the beginnings of a sweet romantic relationship with Dawn, but also restoring a tenuous friendship with Imogen, who has her own chronic health issues, needing multiple surgeries to remove UV-related skin cancers. The story is interspersed with Imogen’s journal entries in verse, poignantly exploring how isolating and terrifying invisible disabilities can be.
Nothing is perfect by the end of the story, but it ends on a hopeful note that emphasises the importance of having a community of chosen family to rely upon and being empathetic and gentle with yourself when living with multiple disabling conditions.
NB: I will note that a SC (who is already established as a toxic figure) makes a heinously racist comment aimed at another side character. Since, I’m white, I can’t speak definitively whether this was well addressed or not, but it is addressed not long after it occurs.
5 stars rounded to 4.5.
May 23, 2026
A huge thank you to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for providing an ARC in exchange for a review!
This book was a really difficult read for me - not because it isn't excellent (it very much is) but rather because it hits home in very visceral, personal ways. Hilzy has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a physical disability that impacts the stability of her joints amongst other things. I don't have EDS, but I do have a disability that, like Hilzy, causes chronic pain and issues with my joints. So much of what she goes through - the medical gaslighting, the stress of the ED, doctors refusing to believe her or her family - hits in such a real way that it hurts. So, for that reason, this book was hard to read. Because it's so true to the life experience so many young people with disability have.
I did absolutely love the interpersonal relationships between Imogen, Hilzy, Max, and Dawn. Their friendships (and relationships) were complex and not without conflict, but they were so well done that I enjoyed every minute of that conflict. I did feel that towards the end Dawn was maybe a little too forgiving of Hilzy, but I was also so happy they worked out their differences that I didn't care it felt a little rushed.
Hilzy and Max's mum was such a character, a driving force of discord despite not being present for most of the story. My heart ached for Hilzy and Max both knowing what they were dealing with from their mother. The neglect and disinterest in her children was so unforgivable, and yet, they love her and what to help her. That's so real! So much of this book rings true. It made it tough to get through at times, but every time I picked it up I was speeding through the pages.
One final thing about this book: I love reading books written in Australian English. I don't see a lot of people talking about this, but I find that when reading US or UK-based stories my brain kind of auto-translates them - reading something written in the dialect of English I know best was so enjoyable and genuinely a nice break for my brain. Hilzy and Max's dialogue is so believable for the kind of young women they are. Also, I loved how much respect Anna Whateley clearly has for the Indigenous custodians of the story's setting. It was so evident in the writing.
I would recommend this for any young person looking for a read that is a bit heartwrenching, but ultimately heartwarming.
This book was a really difficult read for me - not because it isn't excellent (it very much is) but rather because it hits home in very visceral, personal ways. Hilzy has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a physical disability that impacts the stability of her joints amongst other things. I don't have EDS, but I do have a disability that, like Hilzy, causes chronic pain and issues with my joints. So much of what she goes through - the medical gaslighting, the stress of the ED, doctors refusing to believe her or her family - hits in such a real way that it hurts. So, for that reason, this book was hard to read. Because it's so true to the life experience so many young people with disability have.
I did absolutely love the interpersonal relationships between Imogen, Hilzy, Max, and Dawn. Their friendships (and relationships) were complex and not without conflict, but they were so well done that I enjoyed every minute of that conflict. I did feel that towards the end Dawn was maybe a little too forgiving of Hilzy, but I was also so happy they worked out their differences that I didn't care it felt a little rushed.
Hilzy and Max's mum was such a character, a driving force of discord despite not being present for most of the story. My heart ached for Hilzy and Max both knowing what they were dealing with from their mother. The neglect and disinterest in her children was so unforgivable, and yet, they love her and what to help her. That's so real! So much of this book rings true. It made it tough to get through at times, but every time I picked it up I was speeding through the pages.
One final thing about this book: I love reading books written in Australian English. I don't see a lot of people talking about this, but I find that when reading US or UK-based stories my brain kind of auto-translates them - reading something written in the dialect of English I know best was so enjoyable and genuinely a nice break for my brain. Hilzy and Max's dialogue is so believable for the kind of young women they are. Also, I loved how much respect Anna Whateley clearly has for the Indigenous custodians of the story's setting. It was so evident in the writing.
I would recommend this for any young person looking for a read that is a bit heartwrenching, but ultimately heartwarming.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Anna Whateley is able to write stories and characters in an authentic and sincere voice for young adults. She is also able to explore neurodivergent characters in a meaningful way.
Fans of YA coming of age stories will enjoy this one.
Thanks to Netgalley and Allen and Unwin for a copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Fans of YA coming of age stories will enjoy this one.
Thanks to Netgalley and Allen and Unwin for a copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.
June 6, 2026
As an autistic, queer, teen, living in Brisbane, I love this book. I really enjoyed its great storyline and representation, it’s accurate portrayal of the characters as real people, and its honest telling of things that are real parts of many people’s lives, like racism, manipulation, and the struggles of disability. I highly recommend this book!
May 31, 2026
Sweet queer romance, found family and good disability representation. Story was a bit hard to follow at first with a bunch of different characters and more telling than showing, but it stuck the landing with Hilzy repairing relationships with both Dawn and Imogen.
June 4, 2026
a precious story and heartwarming read while lacking in character development and plot compared to stories i would enjoy more. didn't enjoy the random racism subplot where the victim's girlfriend didn't even try to stand up for her - maybe im too woke
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 13, 2026
3 and a 1/2 Brisbane based! This must be a year of OzYA making me cry and wish I could look after all the children in the world. (As if the news isn’t doing that already!) Moving book.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews