Five siblings in West Virginia unearth long-buried secrets when the supernatural bargain entwining their fate with their ancestral land is suddenly ruptured. Since time immemorial, the Haddesley family has tended the cranberry bog. In exchange, the bog sustains them. The staunch seasons of their lives are governed by a strict covenant that is renewed each generation with the ritual sacrifice of their patriarch, and in return, the bog produces a "bog-wife." Brought to life from vegetation, this woman is meant to carry on the family line. But when the bog fails--or refuses--to honor the bargain, the Haddesleys, a group of discordant siblings still grieving the mother who mysteriously disappeared years earlier, face an unknown future.
It’s an unwieldy and hard-to-describe setup, but the five siblings are the greatest strength of the narrative. Each is alternately heartbreaking and maddening ... There’s a sense of deep claustrophobia in the setting ... The book is at its best when it’s exploring the tension between what the siblings want and need from one another, while also delving into the extensive damage their father and his ideas did to them. The weakest aspect of the novel is the mystery of their mother’s disappearance ... The novel leans too much into supernatural convenience, which dilutes the story’s power. However, the resolution will doubtless generate lively discussion in book club settings, even if it feels a bit too easy. Overall, The Bog Wife is a lush, beautifully written novel about trying to be a person in our strange world.
Chronister examines the varying responses within a family system to upended convictions and the ties that bind and break if they cannot bend ... A novel about what can grow from decay.
