STEPH TISDELL The Skin I’m In. Reviewed by Linda Godfrey

Comedian Steph Tisdell’s first novel tackles serious issues in this story of growing up in a First Nations family.

Set in Brisbane, The Skin I’m In opens with Layla, the youngest daughter of a First Nations mother and a white father, getting ready for her last year of school. Layla is academically gifted and wants to go to university next year and work in an area that will make a difference for First Nations people.

Layla’s cousin, Marley, the son of her mother Linda’s sister, Stacey, has come to stay. Marley grew up on Country and has moved around between relatives all his life. He has ended up in trouble with the law and is now staying with Layla’s family to get him back on track. Layla’s mother left home early to make a life for herself away from family complications and is now a successful businesswoman, but Marley’s mother has had problems with her mental health and drug addiction and hasn’t been able to look after him.

So many things are thrown at Layla in the first few weeks of school. Marley, who is getting into more trouble, calls her a coconut – black on the outside, white on the inside – and Layla learns from her mother about intergenerational trauma, beginning with dispossession of Country, through to her grandmother being part of the Stolen Generations, and continuing to Aunt Stacey, who grew up with a violent stepfather and abusive stepmother, went into foster care at 14, got pregnant young and turned to drugs and alcohol to soothe her pain. At school, Layla encounters casual racism from her supposed best friend and other members of her friendship group, and is called upon, without warning, by her modern history teacher to tell her ‘story’ as the only Aboriginal person in the class. Layla feels betrayed and exposed.

‘I’d love you to give us a Welcome to Country. I’d love you to tell us a little about your people and where you’re from. We’ve obviously been looking at some pretty intense stuff in class and it’d be good for everyone to remember how recent this history is. … You’re top of the class, Layla, so why don’t we talk about what it all means to you?’

It really got to me. I couldn’t do a Welcome to Country because this wasn’t my Country. Miss Marks delivered all this with a sincere smile that made me realise she’d planned it.

Layla runs from the room after this incident, but issues keep piling up for her. She and Marley are singled out to attend a Dreaming Camp while everyone else goes to the usual school camp, and Layla reveals to her friend that she has a crush on a boy and is not sure what to do next. The things that Layla has to stress over are building up.

Layla begins to skip classes and wag school. After this, even though she has the support of her parents, her plans for the year go seriously off track.

The novel follows the highs and the lows of Layla’s journey through the year. There are serious times here but also a good dose of levity. Layla has a great and fun-loving relationship with her mother and they discuss everything. She gets a new best friend and they support each other at school, text constantly and party together. Layla connects with her boy of choice, and there are some lovely moments between them. The funniest, in my opinion, is Layla being shown how to kiss by a friend. This scene is explicit and Layla and the reader get more action than originally promised.

The Skin I’m In may be marketed as YA, but this is an important book for people of all ages in Australia. Layla faces the dilemmas of every young person, but with the additional layers of what it means to be Indigenous and have the added burden of family and systemic trauma to negotiate. Layla is lucky; she has an articulate, open and supportive family who can work through the issues with her. But there are many, like Marley, who have been left to their own devices and for whom every day is a struggle with anything from illiteracy to family disconnection to separation from Country and being in trouble with the law. As Layla says:

Marley didn’t have the luck I’d had. He grew up in chaos, confusion, neglect and fear. I could understand how he was where he was, but it did little to ease the sting … I wasn’t angry at him; I wasn’t even angry at my Aunty. I was angry at the utter injustice of life. Marley’s life had been a series of events that punished him for daring to be Black and coming from disadvantage.

This book offers an insightful perspective on the everyday experiences of First Nations people in this country. Steph Tisdell gives us the chance to share Layla’s journey with grace and humour and the reading public can be grateful for it.

Steph Tisdell The Skin I’m In Macmillan Australia 2024 PB 352pp $26.99

Linda Godfrey is a writer, poet and editor. She lives on Dharawal Country.

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Tags: Australian fiction, Australian women writers, first love, First Nations families, First Nations writers, intergenerational trauma, racism, Steph | Tisdell