Recent Reads

Sarah Addison Allen does it again

April 15, 2010 2

I’ve mentioned before how much I love Sarah Addison Allen’s writing. Her books sparkle with magic, yet her characters are realistically flawed. In her latest novel, The Girl Who Chased the Moon, we meet young Emily, who, after the death of her mother, has gone to live with a grandfather she’s never met. A quiet giant, Grandpa Vance doesn’t know how to relate to Emily, and leaves her to her own devices. Adrift in the strange town of Mullaby, N.C., Emily retreats to her mother’s childhood room, where the wallpaper changes according to her mood. Captivated by magical lights in the forest and struggling to fit into a strange small town, Emily slowly begins to uncover the not-so-pretty truth about her mother’s past. Helping her through it are Win, a mysterious, bow-tie-wearing boy she’s ultimately forbidden from seeing, and next-door-neighbor Julia, who bakes away her own heartache, and whose pastries literally draw people to her.

As Emily, Win, Julia and Vance all deal with the demons of the past, they find that it’s not set in stone, and things might not be as bad as they seem. Is it possible that their futures might just be as bright as the mysterious Mullaby lights after all?