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"A masterful novel, shot through with legend and song. It can be read on many levels: as a mystery, as a story of grief and healing, as a response to a poem. But most of all, it can be read as a story of love." —The Boston Globe
"A gorgeous, swirling, haunted and haunting potion of a book...How utterly moving, to be under its beautiful, artful spell." —Paul Harding, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Tinkers and This Other Eden
Marianne is eight years old when her mother goes missing.
Left behind with her baby brother and grieving father in a ramshackle house on the edge of a small village, she clings to the fragmented memories of her mother’s love; the smell of fresh herbs, the games they played, and the songs and stories of her childhood.
As time passes, Marianne finds it difficult to adjust, fixated on her mother’s disappearance and the secrets she’s sure her father is keeping from her. Yet, in one of her mother’s dusty old books, she discovers a medieval poem called Pearl, and, trusting in the promise of its consolation, it seems as if her life begins to parallel the poem's course.
But questions remain. Marianne is ever more tormented by the unmarked gravestone in the abandoned chapel and the tidal pull of the river, and as her childhood home begins to crumble, the past leads her down a path of self-destruction. Can Marianne ever come to understand her mother’s choices? And will her own future as a mother help her find her peace?
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
July 30, 2024 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780593802571
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780593802571
- File size: 5263 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from September 11, 2023
In Welsh writer Hughes’s potent U.S. debut, a woman reckons with the effects of losing her mother as a child. Marianne’s mother disappeared when she was eight, leaving her, her baby brother Joe, and her father in their country house. Now, Marianne has a 13-year-old daughter, and she ruminates on her life, unsure whether she’s invented her memories of her mother, whom she recalls as a free-spirited woman with a penchant for folk rhymes, fairy tales, and magical thinking. The nonlinear narrative alternates with passages of Marianne as a child navigating her mother’s absence. She forgets how to read and frequently connives to stay home from school. After the family moves to a different house closer to her father’s work, Marianne struggles to adjust. At 15, she starts dating an older girl named Emily, who irresponsibly encourages Marianne’s poorly planned trip back to her old house, an episode that worsens Marianne’s developing mental health difficulties. Marianne’s narration smoothly but indirectly moves between her jumbled memories, including her stint in mental health treatment, obtaining of an art degree, and brush with postpartum psychosis, and slowly reveals her own theory of the circumstances behind her mother’s departure. This is a gorgeous reflection of the long, deep wounds of grief. -
August 16, 2024
Marianne's life has been haunted by the disappearance of her mother. Searching for something to hold on to, she finds a medieval poem in one of her mom's books. As she tries to navigate her life, the poem and the loss of her mother shape her future. A debut longlisted for the Booker Prize. Prepub Alert.
Copyright 2024 Library Journal
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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