Gloria Don't Speak
As seen:
By Lucy Apps
avg rating
1 review
Gloria has a learning disability. She’s
nineteen, and there’s nothing to do except
wander the local parks, look for friendship
and keep out of trouble – or go round
Jack’s. Jack needs Gloria’s company, but
he’s unpredictable and angry at the world.
After an act of violence, their friendship
has to end. Now Gloria’s on her own.
But when she hears Jack’s out of prison,
her whole world is turned upside-down.
Heartbreaking and beautiful, Gloria Don’t
Speak is a deeply empathetic portrait of a
woman dealing with vulnerability, violence
– and the desire for connection.
Reviews
Written from the perspective of, and in the voice of (but not narrated by), a young woman with a learning disability. It's really well and sensitively observed and gives Gloria a realistic inner life that can't be guessed at from the outside. It's insightful, funny, tense, poignant and quite sad in a way. A lovely story. Gloria makes friends with a most unsuitable bloke and you just know it won't be plain sailing...
