Indigo in the Storm

Indigo Michael was born during a storm, just her and her mother, all alone. She was wild and loud, as all babies are, entering a world that is just as wild and noisy. It seemed like that storm became a part of her and never left. Her mum didn’t like her wildness and her noise, so Indigo learned to keep it buried deep inside ... except for those times when she simply couldn’t.

Since being removed from her mother’s care, Indigo has been living with Noni. Noni’s niece, Aster, goes to school with Indigo, where Indigo frequently bullied her. Aster acts like Indigo’s friend, but Indigo knows better. Kids like Aster don’t make friends with kids like her. Indigo resists the urge to run away, to let her storm take control and ruin things. Her new tablets help and so does Noni—Noni is quiet and comforting and understanding, and Indigo feels safe with her.

Walking to school one day, Aster and Indigo see a new student graffitiing on the school sign, and Indigo is struck by the words he paints: Be the Revolution. Indigo likes those words, they resonate with her—unfortunately, the boy who painted them is seriously annoying. Liam has moved to town with his artist mum, following the death of his father, and he wants to change the world with his graffiti and his art. Indigo decides that she wants to change the world too—but what can she do?

Aster and her best friend Xavier are trying to save Xavier’s family sheep farm by running therapeutic visits to the farm so that kids can spend time with the sheep, but it isn’t enough. They want to start a line of sheep soaps, and they want Indigo to help—but Indigo wants to do something bigger, something more. Liam tells her about about a nearby forest that is going to become a dumping ground for toxic waste—that is the sort of thing Indigo wants to try and change. Together with Liam, Aster, Xavier, and 15-year-old Esme, the ‘Sheep Squad’ come up with a plan: they will package Aster and Xavier’s sheep soap with art by Liam and Indigo to help raise awareness of what is happening to the forest, and donate some of the proceeds from sales of their soap to the cause.

For the first time in a long time, Indigo feels happy, like she is a part of something bigger than herself. Everything goes wrong when Liam looks at her secret art collection—drawings and artworks that are just for her, no one else. The storm inside her explodes, and after fleeing from Liam and his betrayal, Indigo is taken to hospital. Much to Indigo’s surprise, her friendships are stronger than she knows—Aster and Xavier and Esme all agree that Liam did the wrong thing, and they ask her to design the logo for their soap on her own.

Once things have calmed down, Indigo speaks with Liam. He apologies profusely to her, and it feels good to forgive him. Sadly, Liam and his mum are moving away again soon, but the pair decide to remain friends. The soap fundraiser is a hit and Indigo, with her friends, and Noni, and her art, discovers not only that she is ‘mending’, but that she is there to stay.

This is an absolutely gorgeous story about family, friendship, and mental health. Indigo’s journey, both in this story and throughout Aster’s Good, Right Things and Xavier in the Meantime, is both beautiful and heartwrenching. The themes of found family and emotional regulation are particularly important for middle to older readers. This beautiful, authentic must-read story definitely shouldn’t be missed!

mental health, family, childhood, friendship, emotional regulation, parental separation, abandonment, fostering, growth/change, labelling, identity, changing the world, activism

1. Smoking/drinking: Indigo mentions she remembers her dad smells like tobacco (p. 2). Indigo’s mum goes to buy cigarettes (p. 24) and ‘uses wine and cigarettes to feel better’ (p. 67). 2. Romance: Indigo mentions throughout the story that her mum went through a string of ‘that guys’, each of them being her mum’s latest boyfriend. There isn’t any graphic content at all related to this, just the statement that her mum is in relationship after relationship and this is presented as part of her dysfunction. 3. Indigo refers to herself and others as a ‘weirdo’ and a ‘freak’ a few times throughout the story, specifically in terms of her own mental health and the mental health of others.