In the novel, the protagonist often spends her days walking around the neighbourhood or sitting on a bench in a nearby park.
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From not being able to find “anyone interested in it” to earning a place on the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist, London-based author Lucy Apps has come a long way with her debut novel, Gloria Don’t Speak.The novel follows its titular character from 1999 to 2019 as she navigates the world around her with a learning disability. However, the significant event that shapes the story’s trajectory occurs in 1999, when 19-year-old Gloria is friends with Jack. The dynamics of their relationship are established from the novel’s opening paragraph: “Jack is talking about the end of the world. Gloria listens. He’s on about everything breaking down and burning. His words slide over each other in her head.”Since Gloria’s mother has to work, she makes sure her daughter is not left alone at home because of her “special needs”. As a result, Gloria often spends her days walking around the neighbourhood or sitting on a bench in a nearby park, watching the world go by.Breaking pointThe author foregrounds the way others treat Gloria, but it is Jack who leaves a particular impression on her. She begins visiting him. Jack talks, Gloria listens. But, Jack soon realises that Gloria can push back. When she snaps at him, he accuses her of taking advantage of him. One day, agitated and angry, he follows her as she leaves for home after an argument.Sensing Gloria’s vulnerability, a passing driver stops and asks, “Do you want a lift, love?” Seeing that Jack is refusing to let her go, the man prepares to intervene. What follows — a breaking point — informs the fate of all three people involved.This breaking point, explored subtly throughout the novel, is the inevitable result of a ‘snap’ — a concept that feminist scholar Sara Ahmed has written about. Gloria may have wanted Jack’s affection and touch, but when he begins to act as though he owns her, she snaps. The confrontation that follows brings them onto the street, where they encounter the passing driver and set in motion the novel’s defining event.“A snap is only the start of something because of what you did not notice,” writes Ahmed in The Feminist Killjoy Handbook (2023), before offering the penultimate “killjoy truth”: “If you have to shout to be heard, you are heard as shouting”.Gloria’s experience reflects this dynamic. Those around her rarely seem to understand her when she is not shouting. To make her point understood or exercise her agency, she must be pushed to a breaking point. Yet when she does raise her voice, she is reduced to the fact of her shouting. She is perceived as too much, despite being the woman who “don’t speak”.For this reason, Gloria Don’t Speak can benefit from being understood — and analysed — through the lens of Ahmed’s ‘feminist snap’. Gloria’s moments of rupture are not sudden or inexplicable; they are the culmination of pressures and frustrations that have long gone unnoticed.
