This was a short, bleak, poetic novel, dreamlike in many aspects, but also compelling. The story of a 19 year old girl living in a an unspecified small, cold, dreary, alcoholic, northern (American) place, with a mother but no father (him having walked into the sea when she was a young girl). The unnamed protagonist is in love with an older man, himself haunted by his experiences in Iraq. I constantly found myself unsure which aspects of the story were real and which were in her head - or rather, I should say, which were "actually happening" rather than "real", as I am reminded of a great line from Harry Potter - "Of course it's happening inside your head, Harry, but why should that mean it's not real?". Something completely different from the last - and from the next, as I have collected my latest (and indeed, the latest written) Louise Penny from the library today, so it's back to crime fiction for another book or two!
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