Having enjoyed watching the gymnasts at the Paris Olympics 2024, I marvelled at their skill and also at their ability to take all the pressure. But I lacked the imagination to think of the parents of these young people, and that is what this Abbott novel is about. The protagonist is not Devon Knox, the 15 year old, 4 foot ten, 92 pound, aspiring gymnast about to compete for qualification as a Senior Elite, but rather, Katie, Devon’s mother, who goes through agonies as she supports Devon from her 3 year old start, through much financial outlay, many injuries, endless practise hours, and of course, emotionally as well. Devon’s parents are by her side through every practise session and of course, in every competition.
More than ever, watching Devon had become a profound experience for them. Taking in reach routine with their whole bodies, every nerve on high, their hearts jammering against each other. Because she was theirs, but now she was also so much bigger than they were (p32).
Abbott sums it up further on the novel, just what an act of faith it takes on the parent’s part:
Nearly every time Devon threw herself into the air, Katie had to fight off logic (p104).
Katie and Eric, her husband, make a good team supporting their gifted daughter, Devon. Eric is a gifted fund-raiser, which is very necessary to finance the investment of becoming a gymnast and provisioning her with all she needs en route. They also have a younger son, Drew, who is a sweet child, bright and understanding, very accommodating of his sister’s schedule always needing to be prioritised in all their lives, and who slips into the family space with no trouble at all.
When Devon was only a toddler, she runs into a lawn mower her father had left idling, which lops off two toes. (We are never told which toes, which is rather odd, as surely this is a key point?) The toes cannot be reattached, but the injury heals, and Devon’s parents are encouraged to help Devon with her balance by signing her up for soccer, or ice skating, or tumbling. They sign up for Tumbleangles Gym, and Devon proves a prodigy from the start. She moves on from her first gym to a more advanced place, with a new coach, Teddy. Teddy’s niece, Hailey, who is too big in build to be a gymnast, has become a swimmer, and also works as a trainer for the younger girls in the gym. Hailey had apparently been rather wild, but Teddy had taken his niece under his wing, and helped reform her into a happy, hardworking young woman, beloved by all.
The community is all geared up for the gymnastics competitions, where while levels 1-9 see about 80,000 girls nationwide, Level 10 narrows this down to 2,200 girls, and by Junior Elite level, there are just 65 girls. When Devon just narrowly misses out on qualifying for Junior elite, Eric her father, and Teddy her coach, come up with a new plan, and a lot of new equipment, and plan for her to compete for Senior Elite level which just has 45 girls nationwide. From there, a maximum of 28 Senior Elites can qualify for the national team, and 5 will go on to make the Olympics Team.
Everything goes well until a workman, Ryan Beck, appears on the scene, a personable, charming, handsome young man, whom all the young girls have crushes on, and even some of the moms, and whom Hailey loves. Ryan and Hailey become an item. The whole town seems happy for them, as both are popular characters, pleasant and kind to all. Then Ryan is killed in a hit and run road accident, and it feels as though the entire community’s lives are derailed. Dark secrets revealed, the insinuation is that one amongst them, perhaps Hailey, perhaps another, had been the driver who killed Ryan. Everyone is unsettled, suspicious, and Abbott builds the suspense and tension that she is so good at creating.
In some ways, You Will Know Me is a little like other Abbott novels, The Turnout, which was on ballerinas, and Dare Me, about cheerleaders. These novels are all extremely beautifully crafted in terms of the intense physicality of the sports, the pain and sacrifices required, the envy and competition, the claustrophobia of the community, the determination and laser focus needed.
At night, the gym left its trace. Its thumps and thwacks still echoing in Katie’s head, swirling chalks dust and raw puberty still in her nostrils, under her skin. In her sleep, she could hear the panting of the girls, their fire and desperation (p94).
As there were, in The Turnout and Dare Me, passages detailing the physical particularities of ballerinas and cheerleader’s bodies, in You Will Know Me, there are also many lovely passages describing a gymnast’s body:
It was remarkable, when Katie thought about it. How her daughter, so strong already, her body an air-to-air missile, had metamorphosed into this force. Shoulders now like a ship mast, rope-knot biceps, legs corded, arms sinewed, a straight, hard line from trunk to neck, her hipless torso resting on thighs like oak beams” (p58).
There are also lovely descriptions of Devon in action, and writing action well is never easy, but Abbott does such a good job:
On the floor, Devon bounded down the runway, her knees churning like pistons, face impenetrable.
Leaping from the springboard, legs tight together, toes like arrows, she flew. From handspring, double tuck, twist.
And landing, a hard slap on the mat” (p58).
We learn that a gymnast’s physique is everything, and that most of them must have delayed on-set puberty, because they can no longer be competitive if they develop breasts and hips.
“We need to get to her before she changes” (p86)
are the words of Devon’s coach, regarding the onset of puberty. Puberty seems to be regarded by gymnasts like Devon as a horror:
“Can you believe what happened to Michele McAlpine, Mom? She was so good, but look at her now. I feel so sorry for her, all that new flesh dragging her down” (p86).
The plot drives the novel forward, but actually, the beauty of the writing, and the fascination of the world of aspiring gymnasts, is what makes this novel so readable, so riveted. All Abbott’s novels have been good reading, some of course better than others, but they are quite consistent in theme, in tone, and in texture. They all have elements of suspense, mystery, horror, lying under the surface of ordinary, middle class lives, where their young women or girls are aspiring towards something and being supported by families and communities. It makes for a strong plotline, but it is the quality of the writing which makes Abbott such a favourite of mine.
Review title from: “Jump off the beam, flip off the bars, follow your dreams and reach for the stars.” – Nadia Comaneci
I read this recently, and agree with you that the athletics descriptions are well done. The plot seems a bit overwrought at times. Still, I thought this one was better than Abbott’s cheerleader book where I didn’t care for the phrasing (‘her face sheeted white’, his face was ‘Swedish-fish’ etc) and the plot was _very_ overwrought and unrealistic).