Swyler describes her own book as being “difficult to explain: a dual narrative in two time periods, an abundance of plot threads, circus, tarot, drowning, horseshoe crabs, a house falling off a cliff, all as told by a reclusive librarian.” 

 

I know this book isn’t for everyone but it was absolutely for me. I love Erika Swyler’s writing, her sensibilities. Others have complained about the pacing and I could see how that might be an issue for readers less taken with the whole of the reading experience; it was definitely slower in certain parts (an ungenerous sort might say “uneven”). Personally, I cannot say how much I enjoyed this heartbreaking and salt-stained novel.