Idaho-loved it!
I absolutely loved this novel. This new inspiring author has captured my attention and I loved the way her words came across the page. I almost abandoned this novel as the first few pages left me wondering why I had chosen this novel to begin with. This story itself is not an easy, fun read but it consists of layers, history and damaged lives that never lie still. The more that I read of this novel, the more I settled into it and a calmness came over me. A calmness. I thought it was crazy just how smoothing this novel was considering the subject matter that I was consuming. It was the author, she was amazing. As I read, the characters realizing the fate that awaited them, Emily’s words of prose were there, a comfort for me.
It’s life on the Ponderosa, Wade and Jenny living with their two young children May and June. They were gathering wood, chopping and stacking it, putting it into the back of their pickup truck, it was a wonderful day. Jenny admits to what happens next. Their wonderful day ends in tragedy. Before nightfall, both of their children would be gone. It’s horrible that things turn out this way but this nightmare is far from over as it will haunt Wade and Jenny forever. Reading the journey that these two individuals take after this day was emotional and profound. It wasn’t just their lives that were effected but others they came into connect with. We also journey back in time to the days when this family lived on the homestead, reading about their time spent together as a family before the one event that shattered their lives. This showed just how they felt about one another and how one event can shatter a dream. I can’t wait to see what else Emily writes.
“How quickly someone else’s life can enter through the cracks we don’t know are there until this foreign thing is inside of us. We are more porous than we know.”
2
