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Matt Haig signing my "forgotten" title at the North Cornwall Literary Festival in October. |
Perhaps more woeful is that I have only managed to read one book so far in 2018...I'm going to have to step up if I'm going to complete my to-be-read shelf this year. But, despite my tardiness, the book was excellent, and I am now a committed fan of Anthony Doerr. Many of you will remember that All The Light We Cannot See was my number 1 read of 2016, and so I looked forward to reading About Grace. This was his first published novel, and so I steeled myself to expect something less than his award winning wartime epic. But I needn't have done; I don't think I would rate it as a top read of a lifetime, but it was a very sound start to my reading year. He writes evocatively and sensuously; in this novel he recreates the icy cold of Alaska juxtaposed against the Caribbean blue of a small remote island where the main character spends a quarter century running away from his former life.

The main character of About Grace sleepwalks in a manner comparable to my family, but with a twist. He is convinced that what he dreams is a premonition of a life event. This conviction followed his helpless response, when, as a child, he watched a man lose his life under a bus. He had dreamt the whole scene, and as it unfolded before him, he warned his mother of the outcome, but not in enough time to prevent it from occurring.

I'm not going to give any spoilers about the fate of Grace, suffice it to say that David became so terrified of what he might inflict upon her during his sleeping hours that he ran away, hostage to his fears. He blindly took a ship and ended up on a remote Caribbean island. Here, he was befriended by a Chilean family exiled from their home country by political conflict.
The story builds on this premise and the reader gains an insight into David's thoughts, fears, loves and losses. But this is literary fiction. It has a strong plot and characterisation. but it is also lyrically beautiful. A meteorologist by profession, David Winkler's passion is the unique and beautiful patterning found in snowflakes. This obsession enables him to engender a love of natural shapes and patterns in indigenous Caribbean species in Naaliyah, the young daughter of his Chilean family. The plot takes him to Kingston, Jamaica and then on a long journey across America from Miami and eventually back to Alaska. The evocation of Caribbean tropical heat and beauty and the snow, ice and life in the depths of an Alaskan winter is breathtaking.
I have been "accused" of being unadventurous in my travels. I love the UK and am happy to stay on terra firma, but we venture to France quite regularly and have been known to dabble in an Italian holiday or two. In fact, the children famously informed me that there were more than 2 countries in mainland Europe, and maybe some others beyond that! But, as my lovely bookish friend once said, I am content to travel through the voices and adventures of the characters I read about. Perhaps a little sad, and a little unambitious, but it certainly felt true of this book. The winter months trapped off-grid in a woodshed in Alaska were beautifully described: the sights, sounds and even tastes of the cold permeate the pages.
If you like good literary fiction, this is an excellent read. I like David Winkler! His writer, Anthony Doerr is a master storyteller, who succeeds not only in telling a good tale, but he finishes it well, leaving behind a very satisfied reader.
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