Maud Hart Lovelace award nominee 2022-23
by Rebecca K.S. Ansari
Libby eBook
Published: 2019
Genre: YA fantasy, mystery
I confess that I did not enjoy this book. In fact, I had to force myself to read it.
Charlie has been insisting that his little brother Liam is missing for a year. Everyone else has forgotten that Liam ever existed. Charlie's friend Ana doesn't remember Liam, but she tries to help Charlie figure out what happened.
Strange dreams of a woman named Brona and a house fire in Ireland. Charlie's mom struggling with depression. Baseball assistant coach Jonathan. The mysterious wreck of the old orphanage that burned down.
This book was hard for me to get through. Ironically, I had marked some passages but returned the book before making note of them. I think the author tried too hard to make this profound. It didn't work for me, but I'm sure there are readers who will love it. Especially if they've ever thought they wished they'd never been born or think the world would be better without them in it.
Add in charmed necklaces that cannot be removed, creepy salt mines with undead 18-year-olds, and a theme of regrets tying you to your own past . . . and you have this book.
I think what I liked was the idea that this "utopia" that Brona tried to create meant that injuries faded away, food had no taste, etc. In trying to protect the children from unpleasantness, she made a meaningless "home."
Ansari is a first-time author with this book.
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