Although this book focuses a lot on sadness, regret, and loss, it ultimately feels warm and comforting. You just want to visit the village of Maran and give a bunch of the residents a big ol' hug, help them with their chores, and then sit and listen to their stories long into the night.

This is translated from Russian and I thought the translation was incredibly smooth and the writing was beautiful. However, sometimes the book  felt like a random collection of little stories about the villagers' histories, which wasn't so bad, but I wanted something that had a little more flow through it. I did start to get a tiny bit confused about who was related to whom and how in this one.

Despite this, it's a delightful, hopeful book. If its blurb sounds remotely up your alley, definitely pick it up.