She is Not Invisible

She is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgewick is a young adult novel about sixteen-year-old Laureth, who journeys with her seven-year-old brother to America from their home in London to find their father, who has gone missing in New York City. The book is part thriller and part realistic fiction, and though the character of Laureth's father is gone for most of the novel, he appears in notebook fragments that Laureth reads to understand his research on coincidences, which seem to be the cause of his sudden disappearance. To add to the drama of the book, Laureth is blind, and her seven-year-old brother is her guide. Because of this, there are no visual details in the book; Sedgwick focuses on the smells, sounds, tastes, and feelings of Laureth's journey to convey her story.

Sixteen-year-old Laureth and her seven-year-old brother, Benjamin, live with their mother in London. The family has just been torn apart by the strange disappearance of their father, a famous writer who has been struggling with writer's block for months. To compensate for his writer's block, Laureth's father has been madly researching coincidences – the famous thinkers who have considered them, famous coincidences, really, any factual evidence relating to the coincidence. When he disappeared, the children's father left behind his notebook full of research, which Laureth steals one afternoon to read, trying to determine where her father has gone.

As Benjamin and Laureth read the notebook, Laureth puts together clues left behind by her father – clues she believes might lead them to is whereabouts. Knowing that her father left the country, Laureth decides that she, Benjamin, and Benjamin's favorite stuffed bat should travel to New York City to find him. Without telling their mother, the children make the decision to depart from Heathrow for New York. Stealing her mother's credit card to pay for their expenses, Laureth and Benjamin waltz through Heathrow airport. Laureth feigns confidence to get them past security without any questions.



This journey is complicated by Laureth's disability – blind, she has to use Benjamin for a guide to get around. Laureth, however, is determined. She refuses to let her blindness get in the way of her rescue mission. Though technically the whole world is invisible to Laureth, she feels invisible to the world – her disability causes many people to overlook her. Fortunately for Laureth, this invisibility is helpful in the airport as she and Benjamin make their way to America to find their father.

Once in New York, Laureth and Benjamin follow the clues left in their father's notebook to find his whereabouts. Laureth is concerned as she reads more, discovering that their father had made note of thinkers who have delved into the research of coincidences and been horribly injured or disappeared. Laureth believes that their father may be trapped somewhere or in danger; her suspicions are confirmed when she and Benjamin are attacked by a mugger in New York. The man pulls a knife on the children when he realizes who their father is, and his partner tries to rob them. Laureth outsmarts the men, but the children are frightened.

Though Benjamin and Laureth are in New York City for only one day before they find their father and convince him to return home, the book consists of a number of flashbacks and large excerpts from their father's notebook to develop him as a character. The novel ends when Laureth and Benjamin reunite their parents in London, and the family is together once again.



Marcus Sedgwick has written more than two dozen novels for teens and young adults. He is a British author, illustrator, and musician. He has illustrated a handful of books for children and compiled a collection of illustrated folktales. He is the author of The Dark Horse and Midwinterblood, among other standalone novels, and wrote the two series The Raven Mysteries and Elf Girl and Raven Boy. He has been nominated for a number of prestigious awards for his work, including seven Carnegie medal shortlists from 2002 to 2018, a Printz Honor, and two Guardian Fiction nominations, one of which he received for Children's Fiction. His most recent books are Scarlett Hart: Monster Hunter and The Monsters We Deserve.