Since Maudie and Jake's Dad died, their mum has not been coping with her grief as well as Maudie thought... Until one day she disappears. Maudie is crushed and things only get worse when Jake is put into care. That's when she decides to take things into her hands, kidnap Jake, run away to Cornwall, and force Mum to come back to them.
Will Maudie's plan work? Can they find her and overcome their grief as a family?

It's evident from the start that an incommensurable lot of care and love has gone into the writing of What the World Doesn't See.
In her Author Note, Mel Darbon says: "I wanted to give my brother a voice he never had (...) My brother couldn't easily communicate what he wanted from life, and what he was feeling. His needs were complex and he required twenty-four hour care. He had limited speech. Because of this, I know I can never fully understand how he felt and can only record what I observed and learned over the years, having such a close relationship with him."
Maudie and Jack's story is told alternatively in each character's voice and each one rings movingly true, maybe because the siblings' relationship itself is bursting with love, compassion and sincerity.
What the World Doesn't See is also a wonderful story of first love and finding yourself on a page-turning background of kidnapping, life on the run and danger! (I won't say anymore, you will have to read it :))
I loved it!

Just an amazing book that gives a wonderful insight into those with special needs and how very special they are to those that love them. A great insight and I learned a lot.

Mel Darbon's writing has a way of hitting you in your emotions when you least expect it and staying there to take you on the best rollercoaster as you read her beautiful stories.

One of the few advantages of being an adult is that I get to choose many of the things that as a child I didn’t – what to wear, what to eat, what time to go to bed etc, etc. Sometimes though, it is really nice to let someone else do the choosing and so it was with this new title from Mel Darbon. Possibly not a read that I would have chosen for myself, when Usborne kindly sent me a pre-approval link to this on Net Galley I set this Young Adult title to one side with the intention of whittling down my paper proof pile before turning my attention to this read, publishing to coincide with Disability Awareness Month.

Written in part to give her late brother who had learning disabilities a voice, this is a story which will sweep readers away as they cheer for protagonist Maudie and her brother Jake, as together they grieve for the father they have lost and search for their heartbroken mother, who has vanished after reaching breaking point.

After sleeping in, Maudie gets up one Sunday morning to discover not her mother in the kitchen but her aunt Eve who has appeared in response to a desperate phone call from her sister. As Eve frets about arrangements for the guests she is expecting for Sunday lunch, Maudie tries to get her head around what is going on while trying to maintain Jake’s usual routine for him. Hoping that her mum is just in need of a day off, Maudie searches her room for clues as to where she has gone and noticing that her mother’s suitcase is missing realises that she will not be returning later that day.

Muddling through the next few days, Maudie is left hurt and bewildered by her mum’s actions and her pain is made much worse when she comes home to discover Eve has put Jake into specialist foster care. Furious with her aunt, Maudie hatches a plan with best friend Liv to liberate him and runs away with him to Cornwall, where the whole family had had the most wonderful holiday in the hopes that this will force her mother’s hand and she will return.

Hiding away in a caravan park, close to where they previously stayed, Maudie does her best to care for Jake and meets Gerren, who works there. After a difficult start, Maudie starts to open up to Gerren and she and Jake spend more and more time with him. But with so much going on, is this the right time for Maudie to find love? And will she and Jake be able to stay hidden long enough for her to find their mum?

There is a slow but steady increase in disabled representation in books aimed at children and young adults and stories like this, written from personal experience of having a sibling with learning disabilities, will go a long way to educating their readers about what life is sometimes like for families like Maudie and Jake’s. While there are a whole lot of positives in the way that Jake is portrayed here – Maudie gains so much from the brother she dearly loves, for example – there are also, sadly, the negatives that stem from the intolerance and ignorance of many within our society.

So many things that most of us take for granted such as a simple trip to the cinema or travelling on public transport – things that should be accessible to all – are shown here to throw up a range of difficulties for Maudie and Jake and readers with no experience of these obstacles will find themselves shocked at how much bigotry is aimed their way. It is only by educating our young people that we have any hope of reaching a truly equal society and this story will go a long way to doing exactly that.

A pacy dual-narrative novel about grief, love, getting lost and finding oneself. Maudie is struggling; Dad has died, Mum has disappeared, so determined to find her, she kidnaps Jake, her funny, unpredictable brother who hates loud noises. Darbon gives such clear voices to her characters that I was fully immersed.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'What the World Doesn't See' by Mel Darbon.

'What the World Doesn't See' is a book where its hard to get into from the start but the more you learn about the characters, the more you get into the story and you fall in love. Words cannot explain how necessary this story felt to me and the love Maudie has for Jake was strong throughout the whole story. This book is definitely a must read when it comes out.

First of all, I love stories with characters on the autism spectrum. Second, I really adore the cover. Third, I wish I loved the execution of this book more than I actually did.

Sometimes I hate to review a book, especially when there’s potentially so much to love, and somehow I don’t feel it. What the World doesn’t See is a story about two siblings, Maudy and Jake, who lost their dad two years before. While Jake is on the autism spectrum and their mum struggles with grief, Maudy tries to be the good daughter. Until their mum disappears and Jake is put into care.

The story is told in a dual narrative, mostly Maudy’s and sometimes Jake’s. It’s tangible throughout the book that Mel Darbon has experience with an autistic brother, and I loved to be in his head from time to time. What I liked less, though, were Maudy’s chapters. I found the writing in her chapters a little young, more middle-grade than young adult. And to be honest, the simple writing pulled me out of the story.

Although I didn’t love the story, I know this is a book many of you might love. So, if you love to read an honest story about grief and autism, you definitely should check out this book!

Thank you for early access to this story. A book about sibling love written for younger YA readers or older middle grade readers.