SPOILERS KINDA SORTA
I went into this ready to love it, and mostly did.
Grace is a sad and lonely woman whose son and husband have died. She’s convinced herself she’s undeserving of love, or fun, or of much of a life at all. She’s retreated into math (she’s a teacher) and is kinda just waiting for it to be over. Then she gets some crazy news regarding an inheritance, specifically of a small house on Ibiza, left to her by a former colleague she hasn’t seen or thought of in years, though they did spend one holiday together years before, which turned out to be a turning point for the colleague. The colleague has died under mysterious circumstances and Grace decides it’s off to Ibiza.
A friend asked me how the book was going at about this point, and I said, “Seems like it’s not supernatural. I hope I’m wrong about that.” I was (sort of) wrong about that. What happens is by no means natural.
There’s an alien presence in the waters off Ibiza, and in a pretty cool twist it’s wholly benign. It’s able to bestow some beyond-human abilities on those it contacts. These powers allow Grace & friends to shut down some capitalist evildoers intent on destroying some spectacular natural beauty, and everything’s related to the death of the old friend.
Of course, it’s about more than that. It’s about beauty and joy and family in all its forms. It’s about forgiveness and time and memory and love and loss and letting go. But I think if you’re going to read it you shouldn’t know more about it. Ignore that nonsense I just wrote up there. I liked letting it unfold. That being said, it’s so messy! It gets pretty madcap, but I was getting such a strong visual it just started feeling like a movie, and I would 100% watch it.
“…Like it was dangerous just to inhale because I might dissolve into the universe…I want you to understand these moments. They are all around us on this familiar, alien planet of ours. In every raindrop and scattered particle of light. Life sings and blazes. Even when we are numb to it, when we hide from it, when it is too loud and painful to experience, when we aren’t equipped to feel it – it is there, waiting, to be cherished and protected, ready to give us at least one more blast of beauty before the night.”
