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ariqua's review
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Thanks to Net Galley for an e-Arc!
This was great! If you like queer historical fiction, mythology, fantasy, and romance, this is the one for you! However, the fantasy elements are barely there, so it's mostly a historical fiction queer romance. Bonus, it takes place, mostly, in Canada!
TLDR: Two queer kids fall in love in the late 1930's on a farm in Ontario and stuff happens. The story follows them over a span of about 20 years and how being queer during the war in Canada may have looked like. Also, one of them might be a changeling or a descendant of a selkie. Expect some death (I mean it's set during WWII) some mild homophobia, and oppressive gender roles.
Our MC is Kit, Kathleen, who is the epitome of a tom boy living on a farm in rural Canada. She hates dresses and loves horses. She also might be a changeling due to the fact that she almost drowned in a river when she was young and her mother did some dark magic ritual stuff to bring her back. Plus she also hears the voices of water spirits, which is how she almost drowned in the first place. Throughout the story, we see her become more herself and less of who everyone expects her to be. Kit is the middle child, with one older and one younger brother. The older one is also pursuing Rebekah, which poses some family conflict as you would expect.
Our second MC is Rebekah: A big town girl with a German born father who had to move to the country when things in the city were becoming a struggle due to Germany's part in WWII. She meets Kit as a boy, but is not put off when she realizes Kit is a girl. They develop a friendship and so much more.
Neither of our characters are given an explicit orientation in the story, however Kit is very much trans and probably non-binary. They use all sorts of pronouns and are romantically and sexually interested in multiple genders. Rebekah is a cis-female, but has romantic/sexual attraction to male, female, and enby presenting characters.
If you are wondering, all sex scenes (of which there are very few) are fade to black. Just a few details so you know what's going to happen, and then it leaves it up to your own imagination.
It's a beautifully written, sometimes heartbreaking story about love, family, and figuring out oneself.
This was great! If you like queer historical fiction, mythology, fantasy, and romance, this is the one for you! However, the fantasy elements are barely there, so it's mostly a historical fiction queer romance. Bonus, it takes place, mostly, in Canada!
TLDR: Two queer kids fall in love in the late 1930's on a farm in Ontario and stuff happens. The story follows them over a span of about 20 years and how being queer during the war in Canada may have looked like. Also, one of them might be a changeling or a descendant of a selkie. Expect some death (I mean it's set during WWII) some mild homophobia, and oppressive gender roles.
Our MC is Kit, Kathleen, who is the epitome of a tom boy living on a farm in rural Canada. She hates dresses and loves horses. She also might be a changeling due to the fact that she almost drowned in a river when she was young and her mother did some dark magic ritual stuff to bring her back. Plus she also hears the voices of water spirits, which is how she almost drowned in the first place. Throughout the story, we see her become more herself and less of who everyone expects her to be. Kit is the middle child, with one older and one younger brother. The older one is also pursuing Rebekah, which poses some family conflict as you would expect.
Our second MC is Rebekah: A big town girl with a German born father who had to move to the country when things in the city were becoming a struggle due to Germany's part in WWII. She meets Kit as a boy, but is not put off when she realizes Kit is a girl. They develop a friendship and so much more.
Neither of our characters are given an explicit orientation in the story, however Kit is very much trans and probably non-binary. They use all sorts of pronouns and are romantically and sexually interested in multiple genders. Rebekah is a cis-female, but has romantic/sexual attraction to male, female, and enby presenting characters.
If you are wondering, all sex scenes (of which there are very few) are fade to black. Just a few details so you know what's going to happen, and then it leaves it up to your own imagination.
It's a beautifully written, sometimes heartbreaking story about love, family, and figuring out oneself.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Misogyny, Body horror, Pregnancy, Deadnaming, Homophobia, War, and Violence
Minor: Death of parent, Bullying, Medical trauma, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Grief, Sexual harassment, and Mental illness
elliott_roi's review against another edition
5.0
⭐ Rating: 5/5 stars
🗓 Publish date: Jan 30, 2024
Short review:
Very gender. All the feels. Loved it!
Long review:
I decided to pick up The Cure for Drowning when I saw it was a queer historical fiction set in Canada and I’m so glad I did! This quickly became a new favourite for me. I was laughing and crying throughout, and couldn't put it down!
The start of the book was very chilling and set the mood for the story. I loved the way magic was interwoven throughout the book in different ways, adding a mystical quality to everything.
I immediately loved Kit and related so much to their feelings about gender (and horses!) Rebekah was also a relatable character, nursing feelings she shouldn't have towards a friend and preferring to be inside reading. The story follows these characters from teens shirking chores to play in the river to teens fighting in WWII and against prejudice to adults unsure of their lives and feelings for each other.
I don't think I can properly describe the beautiful ways this book makes space for queerness during a time period where it was not accepted. My favourite example being the way Rebekah easily switches to they/them pronouns for Kit. There are certainly moments of heartbreak and hatred in this book, but what will stay with me is the hope.
A big thank you to Random House Canada and NetGalley for providing an early copy of this title. All thoughts are my own.
🗓 Publish date: Jan 30, 2024
Short review:
Very gender. All the feels. Loved it!
Long review:
I decided to pick up The Cure for Drowning when I saw it was a queer historical fiction set in Canada and I’m so glad I did! This quickly became a new favourite for me. I was laughing and crying throughout, and couldn't put it down!
The start of the book was very chilling and set the mood for the story. I loved the way magic was interwoven throughout the book in different ways, adding a mystical quality to everything.
I immediately loved Kit and related so much to their feelings about gender (and horses!) Rebekah was also a relatable character, nursing feelings she shouldn't have towards a friend and preferring to be inside reading. The story follows these characters from teens shirking chores to play in the river to teens fighting in WWII and against prejudice to adults unsure of their lives and feelings for each other.
I don't think I can properly describe the beautiful ways this book makes space for queerness during a time period where it was not accepted. My favourite example being the way Rebekah easily switches to they/them pronouns for Kit. There are certainly moments of heartbreak and hatred in this book, but what will stay with me is the hope.
A big thank you to Random House Canada and NetGalley for providing an early copy of this title. All thoughts are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Death, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Homophobia
Moderate: Infidelity, Deadnaming, Pregnancy, and Sexual content
erinlaura's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Right from the first chapter this book had me in it’s grip. The little sprinkle of magical realism made this story extra special, but at its core this is an extremely compelling coming of age story that you won’t want to put down until you finish it.
I read this book in two sittings (and only because I started it right before bed the first night) then the next day read right through until the end. That’s not something I usually do, but I truly could not put it down. The author does such a brilliant job of bringing you back in time and immersing you in the setting.
The book is so beautifully written, the characters are so interesting and complex, and the relationship dynamics that are built along the way are intricate and interwoven so carefully that when I got to the end of the book I had been so deep into it that it felt wrong coming back to reality.
I loved this book, and I thoroughly recommend giving it a read if you’re at all interested in queer historical fiction overlaid with elements of Celtic mythology. It's rare for me to love historical fiction this much, and rarer still to find historical stories that focus on non-binary main characters and queer romances, so this is quite the gem and I truly hope that it won't be a hidden one. This deserves endless amounts of praise, and I expect it'll be one of my top reads of 2024.
p.s. for those of you who love a (semi?)-niche “if you loved this then…” type recommendation, this book gave me serious 2000 cinematic masterpiece “Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story” energy, except WW2 instead of WW1 of course, and definitely not just in a Canadian setting kind of way, I promise. If you know me (which of course, you don’t), you’d know this is the absolute highest compliment I can imagine.
I received this as an e-arc via Netgalley from Random House Canada
I received this as an e-arc via Netgalley from Random House Canada
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, and Violence
hmatt's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This is such an original and compelling story. I read the entire second half of the book in one sitting. The changeling/nonbinary narrative was handled thoughtfully within its historical (and magical) contexts, and the main characters in particular were nuanced and well-written.
If I were to nitpick: I didn't get the sense of a long period of time passing in the first part of the book. I mostly only noticed this in contrast to the middle/war sections of the book and because, later on in the book, this time is referred to as if it were several formative years (and I think it was actually just a few months). The very end of the book(from when Landon came back) felt a little forced for the sake of the plot, as well. I completely understand the author's choices with wrapping everything up, but I think I would have been equally satisfied if Landon had stayed AWOL and we just did a little fade-to-black on the farm house with Kit, Rebekah, Adelaide, and Caroline .
There are definitely other queer WWII history novels out there, but I enjoyed the uniqueness of this Canadian take with its magical elements.
If I were to nitpick: I didn't get the sense of a long period of time passing in the first part of the book. I mostly only noticed this in contrast to the middle/war sections of the book and because, later on in the book, this time is referred to as if it were several formative years (and I think it was actually just a few months). The very end of the book
There are definitely other queer WWII history novels out there, but I enjoyed the uniqueness of this Canadian take with its magical elements.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, War, Violence, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Death, and Cursing
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Sexism
Minor: Classism and Sexual content
jennp28's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This is a beautiful novel of WWII and a family’s experiences navigating farm life, love, and the war. In this world, fae are real and a trans non-binary character is more or less accepted as presented (and they/them pronouns are used). Very Canadian and very real-feeling despite the magical elements. (One gripe - Halifax doesn’t have a “bay”, it has a “basin” and looking out from Devil’s Battery at the harbour you would not be looking over the bay/basin. Just sayin.)
I received a free ARC from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
I received a free ARC from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, and Homophobia
Minor: Pregnancy and Injury/Injury detail
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