Definitely darker than some of Jackson’s other novels. I finished this one in less than 24 hours- a perfect twisty but fresh summer read. Any book that behind and ends with references to a book club works for me.

4.5 stars This novel centers around three women in South Africa in the mid 1990s. The HIV epidemic is unfolding, Nelson Mandela has just been elected and tensions are running high. Zodwa is a young pregnant Zulu girl with a very sick mother. Ruth and Delilah are estranged sisters who have both left South Africa but have found themselves back together and at odds upon the death of their parents. One morning a baby appears on their doorstep. The stories of these women, or course, begin in dependently and become entwined.
I really enjoyed Bianca Marais’s first book, Hum If You Don’t Know The Words, so I was quick to pick this one up at my library. It did not disappoint. With themes of feminism, abuse of power, mothers, relationships, it has a range of emotions and did not feel contrived. In fact, I have been in my first (?) Reading slump and this book ripped me right out of it.

This book will be memorable due to it's very unusual plot line. As a reader you are grabbed right away as our protagonist is headed to a weekend retreat. Her invitation to the retreat is a result of her being selected to receive, through the years, random chapters of "The Guidebook". The guidebook is sometimes pithy, sometimes practical, often enigmatic. Retreat attendees are then told the MAY be chosen to learn "The Truth".

Through the first 75% of this book I was tempted to abandon it. I certainly set it aside. But every time I put it down I couldn't stop thinking about it, and wondering what was this "truth" and "guidebook" about? Ultimately Moriarty's well-written characters and carefully developed plot arc came through. I love a book that ties things together, but not "too" tidily. In fact, as I finished I immediately found Moriarty's author page to see if she has published anything else. Certainly glad I finished it.

As with "Harry's Trees", this book has a quality of seeming somewhat magical and mysterious, but yet there is nothing that happens that would qualify it for a fantasy genre.