The Art of Being Normal

By: Lisa Williamson

Narrated by: Tigger Blaize, Zee Andrews

Two outsiders. Two secrets.

David Piper has always been an outsider. His parents think he's gay. The school bully thinks he's a freak. Only his two best friends know the real truth - David wants to be a girl. On the first day at his new school, Leo Denton has one goal - to be invisible. Attracting the attention of the most beautiful girl in Year 11 is definitely not part of that plan. When Leo stands up for David in a fight, an unlikely friendship forms. But things are about to get messy. Because at Eden Park School secrets have a funny habit of not staying secret for long....

©2015 Lisa Williamson (P)2021 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Critic reviews

"A sensational, heart-warming and life-affirming debut. Lisa Williamson writes witty, charming characters you can't help but root for." (Juno Dawson, author of Wonderland)

"A life-changing and life-saving book." (Phillip Pullman, award winning author of His Dark Materials series)

"Impressive and affecting." (The Guardian)

Book is different (at least mine was)

I don’t know if it’s because I have a different regional copy of the book or if that’s even a thing? But my book was missing passages, used different words and had chapters in different places than the audio book had them. In the book they’re very clearly American and in the audio book they are very clearly English, however I enjoyed both versions thoroughly!

Just a little off

As a trans woman, I loved this story. Parts of Kates side gave me such a visceral reaction. It felt like reading my personal diary as an outsider for the first time. The only parts that made me a little bit uncomfortable were towards the end when, even while Kate had come out, Leo continued to refer to her under her dead name and by incorrect pronouns. Though, to be fair, it would be more accurate for a someone to have to adjust to their friend’s new preferences, internally.