Did you know that magical realism is a genre in fiction? I didn't! I've been living under the impression that fantasy novels existed within one spectrum, high fantasy. Witches, wizards, hobbits, ogres... You name it!
That was until I found author Adrienne Young, and the incredible world that exists within her novel The Unmaking of June Farrow.
The Farrow women are cursed. It begins with whispers in the mind... Seeing things that aren't there. In the small town of Jasper, North Carolina everyone remembers when Susanna Farrow began going mad and went missing... Leaving our protagonist, June, to be raised by her beloved grandmother.
After experiencing whispers and visions of her own, including a mysterious door in the middle of the flower field, June has decided to end her family curse by forgoing love and a family of her own. But when her grandmother passes away, June begins finding clues that may lead to the answer behind her own mothers disappearance... And that mysterious door may just hold the answers she seeks.
I listened to this book in audiobook form and I was absolutely transported by the reader to the various versions of Jasper, North Carolina. It is a sprawling family story, a romance, and deeply moving story. This was my first Adrienne Young book and I instantly became a fan! Her charaters are intriguing, loveable, frustrating... Her prose are lyrical, atmospheric, and transportive. I haven't stopped thinking about this book since I finished it and I cannot recommend it highly enough!
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