I'm already a fan of Maria Savva's work, so I was excited to win a free copy of Coincidences, and I wasn't surprised to find the story engaging, the characters believable and the action to move me from page one.
The story is one I related to on a personal level as what propells it forward is a young girl(Alice)'s search for identity as those around her attempt to protect her from reality. Alice is haunted and intrigued by a photograph of her father, a man who left his family when Alice was just a baby.
Savva creates a poignant portrait of Alice, who has fantastical ideas about her true identity and the secrets her family has kept. As Alice begins to uncover the secrets of her mother had tried to shelter her from, she undergoes an internal battle and must reconcile her desire for truth with the reality of what she finds.
I enjoyed this story, and the only reason I didn't give it five stars is that I felt that the prose, in places, became clunky and slightly distracting. As a whole piece, however, Coincidences was a remarkably strong work, and Savva's unique depiction of Alice's internal struggles and the consequences of her family's well-intended dishonesty made for a work that is idea-driven and profound. Its one that I would heartily recommend to anyone who thinks they know what's best for another person, who thinks that they can offer protection of this person if only they keep her sheltered. What Savva's story proves is that sometimes such shelters can cast a shadow that proves far more destructive than any reality.