For Juliet Gengenbach, opening her own bookstore has been a dream 15 years in the making. Now, XO Book Co is welcoming romance readers through its doors in Wellington CBD – and Juliet says she may never have been able to make that dream a reality without her cochlear implants.
Juliet was born without a hearing difference, but her hearing changed gradually over time.
“Losing my hearing was a bit like that famous quote about bankruptcy: it happened gradually, then all at once!”
“I remember being able to hear birds and beeping alarms when I was younger, but I can’t pinpoint when exactly those went away. Then one day in 2023, I woke up and it seemed that all the hearing in my left ear was completely gone. Over the next few weeks I had the obvious-in-hindsight realisation that my hearing in both ears was actually pretty terrible, so I went to an audiologist about it, and he recommended cochlear implants for both ears.”
From seeing an audiologist to receiving her cochlear implants took around six months. At the time, Juliet was the primary caregiver to her toddler son.
Her memories of switch-on day remain particularly vivid, including the kindness and encouragement of the SCIP team.
“I remember the kindness of the staff at SCIP, and how it seemed that they really cared about my hearing, and about me as a person. I felt that they all were pulling for me to experience a fuller life by helping with my hearing.”
Hearing those first sounds was an emotional moment.
“I cried when I heard those first high-pitched tones on switch-on day; I couldn’t even remember the last time I had heard those sounds, and it gave me so much hope that I’d be able to hear birds–or, more importantly, my son–again.”
One of Juliet’s favourite things is now being able to chat with her son while they are in the car.
“Before my implants I was a silent passenger because road noise made it too hard for me to follow a conversation. Since I got my implants, I can talk to him from the front seat while he’s in the back. He is six now and he always has the most fascinating thoughts to share.”
Those conversations are particularly meaningful when Juliet remembers how difficult communication with her son could be before her implants.
“I remember during my very deaf stage, just before I got my implants, my son was two or three and learning to use the toilet on his own. One evening I was cooking dinner and he said he needed to go, and he wanted to go alone. After a few minutes, he hadn’t returned, so I went to check on him. He was thankfully fine, but when I got to him he was red in the face and had been bawling. ‘Where were you, mummy?’ he said. ‘I was calling you!’”
“It broke my heart that I hadn’t even heard him calling me from just down the hall. It was a really low moment for me, because then of course my mum brain thought up all the ways my hearing loss could lead to disaster for my little boy.”
Juliet is bilaterally implanted, with one cochlear implant privately funded and the other publicly funded. For her, the difference both implants have made extends far beyond simply hearing more sounds.
Her renewed ability to hear has played a significant role in Juliet’s professional life, particularly as she embarked on a dream she had been carrying for many years.
“I’ve been a romance reader since I was a teenager, and my love of reading led me to study and later work in publishing with a specific focus on romance. Around 15 years ago I had the idea to open a romance-specific bookshop, as romance books have been one of the top-selling genres in publishing for decades, though they are often overlooked at mainstream bookstores. This last Christmas I reached a place in my life when I felt it was finally time to chase my dream, and now here we are!”
XO Book Co is the result – a dedicated space for romance readers where the genre and the people who love it can be celebrated. The response has been remarkable, with customers queuing down the block for six hours on opening day.
“It’s been amazing to see customers and our larger Wellington community respond to XO Book Co. I was absolutely honoured and humbled by the support from Wellington and the romance reading community.”
Juliet is also excited to see greater representation of deaf characters and cochlear implant users within the books she loves.
“I’ll recommend a few books with Deaf/deaf characters in fact! The Gravewood by Kelly Andrews features a female main character with cochlear implants. Her implants play a central role in this spooky vampire romance. There’s also an instalment of the very popular Ice Planet Barbarians series with a deaf main character with cochlear implants. Romance is an incredibly diverse genre and it’s always cool to read about characters like me getting a happily-ever-after.”
Every day in her bookstore brings another reminder of how much her cochlear implants have changed what is possible for her.
“Every day in my shop I run into some scenario that wouldn’t have been possible before my implants: answering phone calls from potential customers or suppliers, taking a customer’s contact information for our newsletter, or even just interacting with customers in a busy, noisy shop would have been torture if not outright impossible before my implants.”
“I quite simply could not have done this without my implants. I feel so incredibly lucky and grateful this technology exists. My implants have opened up the whole world to me.”
For anyone considering cochlear implants, Juliet is honest that the journey is not always easy – but says she has no regrets.
“My own experience with my implants has been nothing short of life-changing, but it certainly wasn’t always a smooth path. I have zero regrets about my implants and would do it all over again in a heartbeat.”
“I had so much support from my husband, and enthusiasm from my son (who brings me my implants out of the dryer every morning, so sweet). Get all the information from SCIP and your audiologists, and lean on your whanau and Your Way | Kia Roha to help you. Change may come slowly but it will come.”
You can find out more about Juliet’s bookshop here – XO Book Co.for more information.