The story, however, flows on swiftly, giving you as little breathing space as possible. Turning from the sea to the town, the Golosovskaya girls are on their way to disappearance after they have been lured by a stranger into his car.Ī novel by a first-time writer and set in the bleak and wintry landscape of Kamchatka is unlike anything else recent fiction has had to offer The two girls play, tell stories and then move on from the water’s edge to head home when a seemingly innocent encounter changes everything. From the very first sentences, the vividly recreated seascape begins to fill you with dread.Īlso read: Why We Should Read a Nazi Memoir This is a remarkable novel that sets your teeth on edge and makes you question a whole lot of things which you realise had been simply assumptions.Īs eight-year-old Sophia begins to move her sandal-less feet deeper into the grey salt water of the bay, her elder sister, 12-year old Alyona, can see the pebbles “breaking the curve of Sophia’s arches”, and she warns her not to go any further. We are never told directly as to what exactly has happened, but we can keep guessing.Įach chapter is named after the month in which it is set, so you get a sense of the story trudging on slowly, and you keep turning the pages compulsively as you feel the turn of the screw. The story moves from one set of people to the other while the two little girls remain a constant unifying theme - the reference against which all lives in the remote community of Kamchatka, in the eastern-most tip of Russia, are judged. The story moves on, other characters come swarming in, but the novel does not let you go it keeps you hoping against hope, praying that things do not turn out the way they are set to be, and knowing that it cannot be otherwise. The view of the tranquil beach sets little butterflies fluttering in the reader’s stomach in the anticipation of horror.Īs the scene unfolds, the most incredulous events are described in a most simple manner and you are shocked at the tragedy unfolding right before your eyes. Two little girls play by the sea in the spellbinding opening scene of the novel Disappearing Earth by first-time American writer Julia Phillips.
0 kommentar(er)
