The World Before Us

by Aislinn Hunter

"A haunting tale of loss and reconciliation." --Chatelaine

Deep in the woods of northern England, somewhere between a dilapidated estate and an abandoned Victorian asylum, fifteen-year-old Jane Standen lived through a nightmare. She was babysitting a sweet young girl named Lily, and in one fleeting moment, lost her. The little girl was never found, leaving her family and Jane devastated.
     Twenty years later, Jane is an archivist at a small London museum that is about to close for lack of funding. As a final research project--an endeavor inspired in part by her painful past--Jane surveys the archives for information related to another missing person: a woman who disappeared over one hundred years ago in the same woods where Lily was lost. As Jane pieces moments in history together, a portrait of a fascinating group of people starts to unfurl. Inexplicably tied to the mysterious disappearance of long ago, Jane finds tender details of their lives at the country estate and in the asylum that are linked to her own heartbroken world, and their story from all those years ago may now help Jane find a way to move on.
     In riveting, beautiful prose, The World Before Us explores the powerful notion that history is a closely connected part of us--kept alive by the resonance of our daily choices--reminding us of the possibility that we are less alone than we might think.

• ISBN10: 038568066X
• ISBN13: 9780385680660
• Publish Date: 31 March 2015 (first published 1 January 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: CA
• Imprint: Anchor Canada
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 432
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/isbn/9780385680660

Reviews

[Beth C.]

Jane was 15 when the girl she was babysitting just...disappeared...one day. On a walk in the woods, with Lily's father not far away, Lily was suddenly nowhere to be found. As Jane becomes an adult, that day still haunts her life - often in ways she doesn't truly understand. Paralleling that story is the story of "N" - a girl who disappeared from a local asylum years before while out on a walk with two patients. As Jane attempts to piece together the puzzle of "N", the story becomes about memories...where do they begin and end, and how infallible are they?

Aislinn Hunter has a way of writing that is truly evocative. From the beginning of the book: "A wisp of fresh air, of drying earth and dilly grass, slipped into the corridor just the through a gap between the door and its frame...". Unfortunately, sometimes that gorgeous writing seems to drag the book out in ways that are unnecessary. This is a *long* book - and it has some characters that I struggled with as to their actual place in the story. To say too much more would be to give spoilers, which I just don't do. But I do think that the book could have been cut down by about a quarter and still have been left reasonably intact.

Overall, it's an interesting look at how the past tends to intertwine with the present, often more than we would ever understand. It's not plot-heavy, and it's not a hang-on-to-your-hat kind of read. However, it is the kind of book that could be enjoyed on a hammock with a cup of iced tea, right before one decides to take a nap.