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A review by beverleyleeauthor
The Light Over Broken Tide by Holly Ducarte
5.0
4.5 stars.
I always worry a little bit when I have a debut novel to review, because I'm fully aware that this is a writer at the start of their careers, and what happens if I don't like it?
But Holly DuCarte set my mind at rest and delivers a debut novel that does not read like a debut. Her grasp of language is strong, her ties to the setting so much a part of this story, as stable as the Canadian landscape.
This book deals with difficult subjects - mental illness is still seen as a weakness, a thing to be 'got over', by a lot of society, and it is a tribute to Ducarte's storytelling that she winds the complexities of this around a tale of young love and the search for a buried magical vial. I must admit that I didn't gel with Becky at first, I found her to be overly dramatic, but as the book progresses and we learn more and more about her, I found that my allocated chapter a day wasn't enough. I wanted to know what happened next!
I loved the alluring, dreamlike element of parts of this book (and it is up to you to decide what is real and what is not) and its links to Peter Pan. It paves the way for two lost young people clinging onto a dream and each other, whilst being forced apart. Grief and loss, hope and acceptance are huge themes to tackle but Ducarte negotiates her way through with ease.
'We're all like paper dolls. Happiest when linked to another, often aware of our flimsiness. So easily torn. What happens when we reach out to find there's no one there to hold our hand?'
An intelligent YA read, filled with splashes of poetic beauty and the rawness of grief. Pick it up when it releases in the spring of 2018!
I always worry a little bit when I have a debut novel to review, because I'm fully aware that this is a writer at the start of their careers, and what happens if I don't like it?
But Holly DuCarte set my mind at rest and delivers a debut novel that does not read like a debut. Her grasp of language is strong, her ties to the setting so much a part of this story, as stable as the Canadian landscape.
This book deals with difficult subjects - mental illness is still seen as a weakness, a thing to be 'got over', by a lot of society, and it is a tribute to Ducarte's storytelling that she winds the complexities of this around a tale of young love and the search for a buried magical vial. I must admit that I didn't gel with Becky at first, I found her to be overly dramatic, but as the book progresses and we learn more and more about her, I found that my allocated chapter a day wasn't enough. I wanted to know what happened next!
I loved the alluring, dreamlike element of parts of this book (and it is up to you to decide what is real and what is not) and its links to Peter Pan. It paves the way for two lost young people clinging onto a dream and each other, whilst being forced apart. Grief and loss, hope and acceptance are huge themes to tackle but Ducarte negotiates her way through with ease.
'We're all like paper dolls. Happiest when linked to another, often aware of our flimsiness. So easily torn. What happens when we reach out to find there's no one there to hold our hand?'
An intelligent YA read, filled with splashes of poetic beauty and the rawness of grief. Pick it up when it releases in the spring of 2018!