Each story told of intricate and complex relationships and explored the central issue of loss.
There was a list of characters and a map of the Peninsula at the beginning of the book which I found incredibly helpful and I referred to them at the start of each chapter. More than delivering a strong sense of place, the author introduced and brilliantly developed numerous characters within a few pages.
So what made this book so great? Well, each chapter was expertly written, and was a vivid description of everyday life in the isolated villages of the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula. There was a very thin thread connecting these chapters/stories, so subtle that this connecting thread was not always an important part of each story. The short stories where not extensions of the missing children as one would expect, but seemed to be independent stories which were mere ripples from the initial tragedy of the two young girls being abducted. This book was full of surprises, but not the twisty turn-y type of plot twists. So for me to waver between giving this book 4.5 and 5 stars says just how great it must be! I expected a detective thriller story, but to my surprise this was more like a collection of short stories, (and short stories are not my favourite). I’d love to hear YOUR best books of 2021 too – let me know in the comments.So the blurb on this book was about two young girls who went missing from a Russian village. Beautifully written with a subtle dry humor that I appreciated.)Īll You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung (A very moving memoir by a Korean woman who was adopted and raised in a white family and then finds her biological family. Goodbye Vitamin by Rachel Khong (30 year old woman moves back home to take care of her father who is losing his memory. Under a White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert(A surprisingly hopeful look at climate change and the science that might help save us. Unputdownable!)Ī Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes (The Trojan war, but this time from the perspective of the women. Long Bright River by Liz Moore (A thriller that takes on the opioid crisis.
I loved this one.Īnd, because it's always a nearly impossible feat for me to narrow down my favorites, here are a few more that deserve an honorable mention: The writing is so beautiful and the story is completely enthralling. But as she follows the birds, readers follow her into her haunting memories that reveal a tragic past. Set in the not so distant future where entire species have gone extinct, Franny is tracking the last of the birds and trying to follow the last Arctic terns on their migration across the sea.
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