This book is a bit difficult to rate. Every piece on its own was strong - I enjoyed the characters, the topics, the prose - but it was hard to read. Intensely literary and at times clinical.

The plot was entirely character focused, and I’m not usually a fan of that, but it did work here. It just isn’t my usual sort of read. 

There’s a bit of a mystery element to this work as well, and it turned out not to be about that so much as about the character. So, regarding that, I was a bit disappointed. I had also expected more of a religious element, but it wasn’t really there.

It was a gorgeous book, but very dense. Though there were certainly passages that made me feel deeply, it felt at times almost like reading a textbook.

All opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in return for my honest review.