This story has two female narrators whose lives are destined to interact. First, Wren, who is 19 and lives with her younger sister Sage in a cabin in the forest, with no electricity or technology. The other is Nicolette, who is married to a successful photographer, Brant (what? Brant is named after a goose?). The couple live in a comfortable on the edge of a forest in upstate New York, and go into Manhattan for sophisticated art events. We follow the two narrators as they tell their sad stories and the connection is made. It turns out that Wren used to live with another sister and their mother, but now they are alone, and their resources are dwindling. They may not survive. It turns out that Nicolette and Brant had a child but she was snatched away, and now Nicolette is wracked by anxiety and worries, especially about her husband’s fidelity.

To be honest, this is really an awful novel with thin characters and a silly plot. Nicolette is especially annoying as a narrator, an adult woman who depends on her husband for all her identity and seems to have no real life of her own. Wren is more enterprising, but her life is so primitive that there’s not a lot of interest for her to talk about. The plot jumps from one implausible situation to another, with the main saving grace being that it goes quickly. But the contrast between the two women is dramatic and makes the novel more interesting. The unabridged audiobook is performed by Lauren Ezzo and Melissa Moran, and they deliver their roles with conviction.

© 2019 Christian Perring

Christian Perring teaches in NYC.