While there are still some characters that don’t support LGBTQIA+, the majority of the characters accept it, taking into account the time period and country. The story is set around the present day time. Will they rekindle their friendship, or will it crumble to pieces? But when Aled’s secret identity is revealed, their friendship is tested, and France’s vision of her future starts to become blurry. He may be even Frances’s first real friend. Through working on the podcast together, Aled and Frances become friends. After getting offered to be the artist for Universe City, a coincidence leads her to meet the creator himself, Aled Last. But behind her studious and serious nature, Frances has another side to her, one that loves weird clothes, art, and is obsessed with the infamous (and fictional) podcast Universe City. Radio Silence is about Frances Janvier, a teenage girl who has one goal in life, to get into the University of Cambridge. I am reading from a similar perspective being born and raised in Canada also in the 20th century. Radio Silence is based in Kent, England in the 20th century. Personally, I think that anyone, ages 12 and up, can read this book. Alice Oseman is a queer author who has written one book previous to Radio Silence, Solitaire. Radio Silence is a contemporary young adult fiction novel written by Alice Oseman and winner of the 2017 Inky awards which can be found here.

Their problems and hidden depths can relate to the definition of the term radio silence.

Frances’s hidden self, Aled’s pain, Daniel’s confusion about his relationship with Aled, and Carys’ disappearance. In some ways, they are being silent about something that they have trouble sharing with even those that care the most about them. Each character in their own way is hiding something. The title Radio Silence in a nutshell would be the name of Aled Lasts’ alias for his podcast Universe City. It’s only now, after having read the full book, that I remember a certain English lesson where we had to analyze a book title before we read it and all the information you can get about a book just by looking at the title. When I first looked at the title, I could only remember faint remnants of the definition, a time during which it’s only silence.

Radio silence plot