4.5 stars.
“For where would he go if there was no Elsa? What could he do with all these feelings he carried around? She was his homing point, the place he returned to. His escape, his refuge. His park, his river, his track. He saw now that everything that had ever happened to him led him to her.” - Emily Bronte, eat your heart out!
What more can I say? Joan London writes with a poet’s sensibilities. This book is just gorgeous and lush. The language is sublime. The sense of yearning, not only by 13 year old Frank Gold, but also by the adults in this story, is palpable. This novel is not so much plot driven, as more a sensory journey for the characters. I kept needing to stop and re-read a sentence, to really savour the experience. I started with a quote, and so I’ll finish with another….
“He sometimes thought he only loved properly in retrospect."
Highly recommended.