Unapologetic Love Story

Elle McNicoll

ON paper, proudly neurodiverse ‘It Girl’ Raina Lewis and overtly cynical investigative journalist Tom Branimir are the unlikeliest of London’s high profile names to fall in love. But fate has a way of trampling on society’s expectations… and sometimes relationships can take everyone by surprise.

Four times Carnegie-nominated autistic novelist and screenwriter Elle McNicoll, whose debut novel for young readers, A Kind of Spark, won several awards and was adapted for TV, has now focused her talents on her first adult romance novel, a torrid, tantalising and thoroughly heartwarming tale celebrating love, relationships, and the women who (until now!) have historically been shut out of love stories.

Diagnosed with autism at the age of nine, McNicoll says twenty years have passed since then and she is still learning what that means, while emphasising that this novel was never intended to ‘teach’ but to present a story with a neurodivergent woman in the lead role with all the ‘complications and joy’ that brings. 

And what an audacious and dazzling experience McNicoll (pictured below) has gifted her readers as we are plunged into the life of the witty and wonderful Raina whose honesty, revelations and deep emotions are guaranteed to evoke both tears and laughter, and provide a searingly authentic portrayal of the very real challenges faced by autistic women.

Twenty-eight-year-old Raina Lewis – her pink streaked blonde hair matched perfectly with a striking pair of fluffy cowgirl boots and a very loud laugh – is London’s newest autistic ‘It Girl’ thanks to her smash-hit podcast, The Disability Track, which celebrates neurodiverse women and is currently dazzling the city’s movers and shakers. Across town is investigative journalist and non-fiction author Tom Branimir who has earned the title ‘King of Cancel Culture’ for his hard-hitting stories about podcasters and influencers who ‘lie to their followers.’ Never afraid to pick up a ‘verbal sword’ for battle, he knows people either don’t like him or fear him but he cares too much about the truth to worry.

Under pressure from his agent to include a piece on the genuinely wholesome Raina Lewis as a ‘palate-cleanser’ section for his next book, he is not convinced that she is as perfectly nice as she seems and if she has a hidden agenda, he’s determined to find it.

When a chance encounter at an annual literary dinner brings them together, Tom – who is jaded with one-night stands and longing for a girlfriend ‘with an intellect that could wrestle with his’ – is soon intoxicated by Raina’s wit and intelligence, and her ‘unapologetic’ laugh which sounds ‘like a bell ringing in a quiet chapel.’ Raina, who has to admit to herself that she feels a reciprocal attraction to Tom, reluctantly agrees to let him profile her for his next book but warns him that if he betrays her or her community, she will end his career… albeit with a smile.

Almost inevitably, what starts as a professional arrangement soon blurs into a sizzling romance. But when Tom – whose reputation has been built on his ability to ‘put up a wall’ against those he investigates – finds his work is coming under scrutiny, he faces a tough decision. Should he save his sought-after career… or the unapologetic love he never thought he’d find?

In true Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy style, McNicoll brings us two memorable sparring partners whose passionate love story unfurls in a flurry of misunderstandings, wrong words and misfirings of serotonin, all aided by a charismatic cast of supporting (and supportive) characters, not least Raina’s irrepressible best friend Pepper whose presence is the ‘oil’ that eases the ‘creaking, cranking hinges’ of Raina’s ‘clunky’ social scene.

Sizzling with sexual tensions, and the busiest, buzziest and yes, unapologetically blistering, dialogue you could hope to find in a contemporary rom-com, this emotionally-charged adult debut allows the fearless McNicoll to let loose both her imagination and her very real, and often intimate, experiences of living with autism… experiences which many of us would freely admit are a blank page. And by shedding new light on to this often hidden psychological turmoil, McNicoll pleases both fellow neurodivergent women who have ‘a special interest in romance,’ and the ‘neurotypicals’ for whom Unapologetic Love Story offers a dazzling and delightful new chapter of understanding and entertainment.

And who better to have the last word than the unforgettable Raina who likes nothing better than upending all the different misconceptions people have about her as an autistic woman… I mean who wants the hackneyed ‘fictional version’ when you can shove those thoughts aside and let the straight-talking Raina take her place?
(Macmillan, hardback, £18.99)