The beauty and emotion of When Things are Alive they Hum by Hannah Bent starts on the cover with the title. This is a story about resilience and love – familial, sibling and romantic. It revolves around the theme of living with disability and the story contains an unfiltered look at what disability means for both the individual and those around them, including the influence of the cultural lens on disability.

You are magic. Very few people will ever be able to see the world like you do.

Sisters Harper and Marlowe, both in their twenties, have a deep bond shaped by life events, including the death of their mother in childhood, their culture, and that Harper lives with Downs Syndrome and the heart problems that commonly accompany that condition. A delightful thread in the story is that Harper call her condition Up Syndrome and their stepmother is ‘stepmonster’ 🙂

When things are alive, they hum. You can hear it if you put your ear to the chest of an animal or if you lean close close close to a plant. My own hum goes dum dum da da dum da dum.

Marlowe returns from the UK to Hong Kong to be with Harper after finding out her sister needs a heart transplant to survive. When the Hong Kong medical system refuses the transplant due to Harpers Downs Syndrome, Marlowe becomes desperate. She is so determined to save her sister that she fails to pay attention to Harpers wishes. Harper is in love with a young man who also has Downs Syndrome and they want to get married.

It is not a secret that when things die they still hum; it just changes. After the dum, da drumming of a heart, it becomes a feeling that floods the air like music.

When Things are Alive they Hum is a beautifully written and moving story inspired by Bents own sister with Downs Syndrome. Told in alternating points of view by the two sisters, the reader gains a deep insight into their lives, hopes and very different perspectives on Harper’s plight.