Sing If You Can't Dance by Alexia Casale

Pages: 320 

Publisher: Faber and Faber 

Released: July 6th 2023 

An entirely original and much-needed own-voices perspective from a teenager coming to terms with her disability as she's coming of age. Ven had her life all planned out. her dance group were going places and so was she. Then she passes out right in the middle of a life-changing performance. And she's forced to admit that she hasn't been feeling right for a while now. Ven is about to discover she has an illness that threatens to ruin everything. No more dancing. even walking is proving a challenge, and standing. But don't you DARE feel sorry for her! Ven is no victim, and she is in charge here. Sure, her future is going to be different. but that doesn't mean it's over. Because if you can't dance, you can always sing!

What I Have to Say 

Loving the amount of disability rep I'm seeing in fiction at the moment. This was went a bit down the negative side at the start, authentically portraying the doubt and issues shown by someone still coming to turns when they have a disability, but it ended really upbeat. I was really happy that it showed how once you get the right support you can still live your life. 

Support in general was a big message of this book. I loved how every one of the Singers had something going on in their life and how they grew to support one another, even when it had nothing to do with the singing group. It really showed how important friendships can be. 

The author chose not to disclose what disability this is based on and I respect her choice so I won't make any guesses into what it might be, but I have to say I feel this choice was made assuming the potential readers would be abled. If someone was disabled in the same way that Ven is and was looking for a book to help them deal with it, I'm not sure whether they'd find this book. It's a pity really. 

4 stars 

My thanks go to Faber and Faber and Netgalley for providing me with this copy to review.