My third and final Sarah Moss of 2019 and I’m a bit smitten! I love books where essentially nothing happens, nothing but characters living their daily lives, dealing with chaos as it comes, and adjusting to their new lives after a crisis. Don’t read this one if you’re expecting a full-blown plot or a fast-paced read, as it’s more an internal monologue from a father’s perspective after his daughter is taken critically and inexplicably ill.

I don’t usually enjoy being in the head of a male narrator, but for the most part Adam is insightful, funny and an excellent father. As Jess @lunchpoems pointed out in her review, there are a couple of eyebrow-raising lines about the working class where it’s difficult to tell whether it’s a character flaw or Moss... But mostly it’s a sensitive reflection of British society, with a more intimate study of a family in crisis within that.

Moss muses on the endless guilt Adam feels over his family’s situation when there are millions of people in the world who have it worse, when this feels like the worst thing in the world. I think a lot of people often think their emotions aren’t valid because other people have it worse. She paints a searing portrait of a father’s suffering upon seeing his child so helpless, every word seems wrought with emotion.

I found it quite an emotionally taxing read, but it’s broken up with short chapters and interspersed with Adam’s musings on Coventry Cathedral (he’s a stay-at-home dad working a couple of hours a week as a lecturer) and his father’s life as a young man. Admittedly I wasn’t as enamoured with these chapters as I was Adam’s, but overall it is a beautiful, quiet read on family life.