It is 1983, and Joe Arneson, is 23-years-old living and living a “normal” life until he starts having vivid dreams that seem to be in someone else’s head. It gets so bad, his family sends him away to a psychiatric hospital. After several months, Pearl, a woman who introduces herself as Joe’s long-lost grandmother, shows up to rescue him, tells him she’s dying of lung cancer, and offers him the job of cleaning out her house. While he’s living in town, he meets Kathleen, a young woman who runs the local antique store in town and has her own skeletons.
The other half of the book is set in 1916, and tells the story of Pearl as a young girl and her older sister Alice. They are two of seven sisters, and after their mother dies of pregnancy complications, their father hires a young man, John, to help him on their farm. He only has eyes for Alice, which makes Pearl exceedingly jealous, which doesn’t turn out well for any of them…
Personally, I didn’t really like Pearl. She’s a spoiled brat as a child and not much better later on. But it was interesting to have a book with someone with this type of personality as the main character. What happens when it’s one of the “bad guys” telling the story? It did help develop a bit of suspense since she seemed to realize that she hadn’t been in the right for most of her life story, even as she wanted to hide the details from her grandson.
It does take the author a bit too long to set this book up for the reader — and the reader does have to really suspend disbelief with Joe’s dreams telling part of the story — but overall this is an enjoyable read that goes quickly once you get into it. Even though the reader knows what’s going to happen fairly quickly, the characters make you want to keep reading to find out who it works out for in the end.
Disclosure: I received an e-gallery of this book from NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing in exchange for my honest review. It did not influence my opinion.