This is a fantastic read. Although it started out very slow for me
and I was very tempted in the first quarter of the book to give up, I’m
honestly glad that I didn’t. The story alternates between a modern day setting and
a traveling carnival in post-Revolutionary war America. In present day, emotionally scarred brother
and sister Simon and Enola ponder the fate of their crumbling family home 10 years after their mother, a
breathholder, drowned herself in the ocean. Laid
off from his librarian job and concerned about his sister’s erratic behavior, Simon
becomes obsessed by the appearance of a mysterious book kept by the carnival’s
owner, which contains a notation about his grandmother. Delving into the story,
he is pulled closer to the truth about the women in his family who all drowned
on the same date, and their connection to the carnival people in the book: Amos
the mute fortune teller, his mentor/pseudo-mother Madame Ryzkhova, and his love
Evangaline, the carnival’s mermaid.
Little sketches in the book add a nice touch, especially the
one of the horseshoe crab. If you to read this at the beach keep your eyes open for invasions of those guys. Also, I grew
up in Burlington, NJ, where a major plot point occurs, so that was fun and
unexpected.
My actual rating is 3.5, but since half stars aren’t
available and 3 is insufficient, I went with 4. My main issue throughout the
book was that I wasn’t able to connect with any of the main characters on an
emotional level. They are just not likable. I cared about the story and reached
a point where I had to know how it ended, but I found myself not really caring
if Enola drowned herself or not. It could have been so much greater if we had
known more about Enola and what she thought.
Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and will look for more
from Erika Swyler in the future. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for
another great read!
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