It is always a treat when you start a book with some faint preconceived notions of the type of story you will encounter but end up getting something completely different!
I should probably explain better if I am to get any casual observer of this review to understand where I am going with this. Rebecca is a steady, reliable employee. She leads a boring life which her mother helped her design. She visits the family at regular intervals and enjoys their company, but she has no spark. The dullness of her life and mind at the beginning comes out with great clarity.
This might have remained her life if a random journalist did not track her down to re-introduce her to her father and his disappearance from the public eye. Once she starts to ask questions (in turn offending her mother), her grandmother provides her with a crucial missing piece that she keeps secret from all – a book of short stories.
These seemingly fantastical stories have an autobiographical bent, leading Rebecca to better understand her own father and maybe even figure out what had happened to him. Our lead character upends her life, much to the surprise of everyone who knows her.
It is a very well written narrative with a lot of different emotions and shades. It feels as much like an amusement park ride as an intriguing family history reveal. Much of my review is based on how surprised I was with every passing chapter. I enjoyed the twists and the growth of the central character, as well as the actual solution of all the mysteries within it.
I would definitely recommend it to anyone who finds the blurb or this review attractive.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.
Superfluous Reading 