Author: Jessica Berger Gross
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Hanover Square Press, 2025
Pages: 352
Rating: Recommend
Synopsis: When Hazel Blum's father gets a tenured job at a prestigious college, she and her family relocated from Brooklyn to a middle-of-nowhere town in Maine. With her mother, Claire, a clothing designer, and her father, Gus, an American Studies professor, Hazel and her eleven-year-old brother, Wolf, slowly acclimate to their new lives and connect with the town's sprawling community. That is, until a dramatic fallout on the very first day of her senior year tips the fickle balance of idyllic Riverburg and impacts everyone in her family.
Tracking through the perspectives of each member of the Blum family, this relatable fish-out-of-water story handles big issues with great empathy and humor, capturing the love that unites one unforgettable family and the essence of life in small-town Maine.
Review: This took me a few chapters to get into the rhythm of the book, but I'm glad I gave it a chance. I think about the author's writing process when it comes to books that tell a story from different perspectives, and do it well. How does one know where to overlap details, how to pull out new information, and make it believable and cohesive.
I've seen criticism from other readers that after the one incident that happens early on in the story, nothing else happens. I disagree. This one incident sets of a series of behaviors, ramifications, and ultimately healing. The author does a great job of revealing the ripple affects from one decision. It's really well-done. This is not a high energy, on-the-edge of your seat novel - rather it's reflective and exploratory.
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