Three sisters live on an island with only their mother and father for company. They are put through rigorous tests and exercises, taught to be always vigilant against the outside world and especially the dangerous and afflicted males of the world. When three men wash up on the shore, their world is turned upside down.
Phew, this was an unsettling one. In tone, structure, and subject matter, this book was unconventional, strange and often off putting. We are kept in the dark about many things and at the same time shown seems in graphic detail. The book is told in multiple perspectives including a conbined perspective or conciousness which takes some getting used to. I don’t usually like multi perspectives, but this really warmed for me, in part by the reader is kept off kilter in many aspects, but also bc the perspectives do not alternate each chapter. Sections are devoted to all parties, often several chapters at a time, or for whole sections. There is a lot of grief and violence, unease and manipulation in this book, but I still felt for each main character in their own way. There are some anticipatory elements to this book, which usually I really dislike, but bc the entire book made me feel off kilter, these were just another aspect of the overall discomfort of this book. All that being said, I really liked this one, and look forward to reading more of Mackentosh’s work. This could have felt like a Young Adult Novel, by all the main characters are in their teens or early twenties, but luckily, it did not go that route. It is a novel for adult readers and there are many adults themes and trigger warnings. If you do not want to read about child abuse, spousal abuse, cheating, grooming, infant death, or bodily harm or horror, this might not be the book for you. I would recommend this book to those who like plague books, dystopian stories, isolated woman tales and readers who like weird books.
Sophie Mackentoch has a new book out this year, Blue Ticket, I look forwarding to reading that when I find it. If you like a book, will you move tight to the next of the authors work, or do you file the info away?
