A review by crafalsk264
The Comet Seekers by Helen Sedgwick

emotional funny informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Róisín and François meet at a research center in Antarctica. Róisín is Irish and an astronomer with a fascination with comets. François is a French chef hired to provide meals to the employees and researchers at the Station. The two are drawn together slowly through a cache of shared interests. There are points of convergence throughout their lives and each has a connection to comets. The story of ancestors are told in chapters titled with the names of comets and when those comets visit earth. 

Róisín is several years older than François and has been at University as a student and then a faculty member. Her life is shadowed by a tragic relationship with a beloved cousin who has adored her since childhood then as a friend and his death has  left a void in her life that she hasn’t been able to fill.

François is the only son of a single mother (Severine) who takes him to cities and places of interest when he is very young. But as  he grows older his mother becomes almost home bound and she sees ghosts when a comet nears and passes the earth, it calls forth the ghosts in François’ family and they all live with Severine. The family ghosts become all the company Severine needs.

This is a beautiful debut novel looking at lives lived in parallel paths crossing and recrossing each others’  time lines. The lyrical language when describing the comets was touching. The comets appear, pass, and retreat until the next time the forces of gravity pull and push the glittering travelers on their way. The book starts rather slowly but picks up after the characters, times, and location are introduced. I loved the writing on the comets, laughed at Severine’s relationship with her “family” and became rather fond of François but most of the rest of the characters—not so much. Recommend to readers who enjoy ghost stories travel literature and comet lore.