Octavia Frost is no stranger to life’s twists of fate.
She has mourned a husband and a daughter.
She has watched her son become a rock star, following his progress through gossip magazines: they have not spoken in four years.
And in her own, less spectacular way, she has built a name for herself as a writer.
But the news she receives today will make her rethink everything. And though the situation seems bleak, it could give her a chance to redeem the mistakes she’s made in the past. She may still have time to bring her own story to a different ending.
She has mourned a husband and a daughter.
She has watched her son become a rock star, following his progress through gossip magazines: they have not spoken in four years.
And in her own, less spectacular way, she has built a name for herself as a writer.
But the news she receives today will make her rethink everything. And though the situation seems bleak, it could give her a chance to redeem the mistakes she’s made in the past. She may still have time to bring her own story to a different ending.
Reviews
Sharp and engaging...a gleaming alloy of mystery and confessional...Guilt and (mostly parental) responsibility emerge as powerful themes to unite the two traumas of a well-paced and convincingly populated novel
Not just a book about a novelist in action, it's also a meditation on writing itself and on the curious intersections between the imagined world and the real one. . .brisk and engaging. . .the book succeeds in probing nuanced issues of guilt and innocence through an intricate collage of memories and musings. . .Those are some real mysteries, well worth grappling with.
A massively readable and thought-provoking story
Emotionally charged...moving and poignant