I loved this book! Holy shit, it was everything I wanted and more. First of all, it's set in a brighter timeline of American history- instead of the current administration, the President elected after Obama in this book was a Democratic Senator from Texas named Ellen Claremont. Her son, Alex Claremont-Diaz, a senior in college focused on his own future political career, is the lead character. Alex is very close with his older sister June, who wants to be a journalist, and Nora, the VP's math-quiz granddaughter. These three have been given the nickname the White House Trio and do a lot of press and campaigning with their families. So it isn't a surprise that they are invited to the Royal Wedding of Philip, the oldest of the three children in this book's alternate English Royal Family. Alex is not excited to go, because he feels like he has a rivalry with the younger son, Henry. His Royal Highness said something rude to Alex at the 2016 Rio Olympics and that, in addition to his extremely good looks, makes Alex dislike him. A belligerent conversation at the reception ends with both of them tripping into the $75,000 wedding cake. They are then required to do a "pretend to be best friends" press tour weekend together to smooth things over. The weekend ends with Alex giving Henry his number. A friendship develops between them long distance as Alex grinds through finals and starts a job as a White House intern and pressure ramps up towards the 2020 election. The author is clearly a big fan of The West Wing, which is explicitly referenced more than once, and I would make an educated guess that she is also a fan of royalty AU fanfiction. The surety with which this book hit every emotional fic beat filled me with warm fuzzy feelings. But it is also quite political, and the climax of the story is a series of scandals that threaten the outcome of the election. The ending left me wistful for a more progressive America.

I listened to the audio book version read by Ramón de Ocampo, which I highly recommend.

St John Fox is a writer, alternately inspired and frustrated by Mary Fox, another writer who may or may not be a figment of his imagination. Mary Fox doesn't like what Mr Fox has been writing about- too many murders of innocent women- and so challenges him to a contest of sorts, to see which of them can craft a better alternate story of their lives and relationship. Whether or not they can ever achieve a happy ending is an open question- especially to Daphne, Mr Fox's wife. Sometimes present, sometimes fatally absent, she plays the third lead in the Fox's interweaving narratives.

This is my second favorite Helen Oyeyemi book so far after What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, a book that made me declare "I will read everything this author ever writes". Oyeyemi's stories are very hard to pin down. It feels deeply simplistic to call them re-workings of fairy tales, though that is one aspect of some of her books. They are generally set in the present day and generally at least one magical or impossible thing occurs, but that is what the whole plot revolves around. They also often end very abruptly, before what I would consider the end of the story, and leave me dreamy and pondering for a while afterwards. The main character of this book is Harriet, a teacher and ginderbread baker, who has a challenging mother and a challenging daughter. The bulk of the book is her telling the story of her childhood to her daughter Perdita. Harriet was born in Druhastrania, an Eastern European country which may or may not actually exist. Her and her mother escaped the country with the help of a changeling and a family of wealthy benefactors who then almost completely controlled their lives. Every relationship in this book is a complicated one, with the ties of love, duty, fear, obligation, hate, spite, affection, and blood all deeply tangled together. I'd recommend it, but be prepared for some of it's mysteries to stay mysteries.

A quick re-read because the Moomins have been on my mind. It's just a delightful as I remember it. My mom read this to me and my sibling when we were young and many of the magical images lingered in my mind. Even though it's technically in the middle of the series, it's not a bad introduction to the regular characters of Moomin Valley.