It wasn't released yet, and everything about it got me really excited - the plot, the comments, the reviews, the promotional advert, everything told me i was going to love this book, and so i wanted to read it NOW.
But i had to wait.
And eventually, suddenly, it was out.
But i was in the middle of the 3 musketeers, and knew that i would never finish their story if i started something new. So i bought "when God was a rabbit", stored it on my kindle, and forced myself to forget about it and read through d'Artagnan's adventures.
With so much anticipation though, i was a bit worried. What if i was disappointed ?
Well, i wasn't.
This is my kind of book, where life unfolds, sometimes abruptly, sometimes gently, where families are the core, the centre of one's universe, where childhood is respected, yet not re-invented. I didn't want to reach the last page, i just wanted to stay with them, with all these characters that you can't help but love, despite their flaws, because of their kindness.
The author described her novel as primarily "a love story between a brother and a sister", and although i see what she means, obviously, it wasn't what touched me the most. Probably because this feeling of having a witness to your life, someone whith whom you're linked forever is a given to me; i have a brother. I was more in awe of everything around them: the relationship between Elly and Jenny Penny, between Joe and Charlie, between Arthur and Ginger, between Nancy and them all. And this willingness to include everybody within one family tree, to adopt stray characters and to give them a family; i guess the strenght of the story lies with Joe & Elly's parents, with their kindness and acceptance, and with their will to be open, to welcome in.
There was so much in this book, histories following History, life as we know it and life as we've heard of it, and a gentle benevolent feeling that kindness can make up for loss.
Note for later: if i ever write a book one day, i'd like it to be this one.
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