I just noticed that this is her first novel. I wish I had known that when I started to read it. The novel is very uneven, there are some wonderful moments in the book, and sometimes the language, or a phrase, or a description are stunning, but overall the book falls apart. As a short story thi...
the sixteen-year-old sobbed. She’d set up the ironing board and all its accessories like a shrine to housewifery. Heat shimmered in the air, had already slightly compromised the plastic of the spray bottle. Only Bonita could master the pleats of Suzanne’s ghastly uniform skirt. Other girls did no...
Catherine asked the girl. Cattie hadn’t immediately answered. This pensiveness drove Oliver mad, but Catherine appreciated it. And even Oliver had to concede that Cattie was perhaps the only person he knew under the age of forty who didn’t use “like” in every sentence she spoke. It was one of the...
