Thanks to @riverheadbooks for sending me an ARC of The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff. She is a literary QUEEN! She can do no wrong! I will read anything she writes - nuns (Matrix)? Sure! A young servant girl’s escape from a colonial settlement and survival in the wild? Absolutely!

Groff’s writing is poetic. Her descriptions are stunning, and at the same time I was completely immersed in the plot. Would the girl find enough to eat? Would she freeze? And why exactly was she running? The slow revelations about her past in fever-dream flashbacks worked so well for me, too. She ruminates on god, men, and sin. Reading about her struggles to survive and stay healthy was a visceral experience.

I flew through this book. I loved it. If you are a Groff fan already, I think you will too.