Twin sisters Clara and Dempsey have always struggled to relate, their familial bond severed after their mother vanished into the Thames. As infants they were adopted into different families, Clara sent to live with a successful, upper-class couple, and Dempsey with a sullen, unaffectionate city councilor. In adulthood, they are content to be all but estranged, until Clara sees a woman who looks exactly like their mother on the streets of London. The catch: this version of Serene, aged not a day, has enjoyed a childless life— the very life, it seems, she might have had if the girls had never been born.
A rich and risky text ... Creat[es] an unreliable but fascinating relationship to reality ... A deliciously slippery conundrum ... The “book within a book” gimmick doesn’t flatten the characters or their motivations; if anything, it helps expand them, breaking open time and existence so we can better see what’s inside Clara, Dempsey and Serene ... Daley-Ward’s prose also shines from the start ... Not all of these experiments are so clearly successful, though. The book’s ending offers up several possible conclusions. It comes off a tad messy or overgenerous ... By harnessing both a poet’s heart and attention to language as well as a fresh ear for millennial humor and drama, Daley-Ward has penned a metaphysical experiment on grief, trauma, family and longing that holds all the excitement of a big summer read. The promises of Daley-Ward’s debut fiction are the same as some of the book’s darker motifs: It’s addictive and might take a lifetime to release you.
Daley-Ward ventured into the world of fiction and created a genre of her own ... Daley-Ward illuminates the complex workings of the mind in a tale filled with intrigue and speculation that will leaves readers guessing long after the final pages.
Elegant and unpredictable in the best possible way ... Inventive ... Daley-Ward explores the tension between the twins beautifully ... The novel ends with a genuine shock, but it’s earned—it’s a surprising conclusion to a beautifully written and structured book.
