Emily Benedict came to Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve at least some of the riddles surrounding her mother's life. But the moment Emily enters the house where her mother grew up and meets the grandfather she never knew, she realises that mysteries aren't solved in Mullaby, they're a way of life. Here are rooms where the wallpaper changes to suit your mood. Unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight. And a neighbour, Julia Winterson, bakes hope in the form of cakes, offering them to satisfy the town's sweet tooth - but also in the hope of rekindling a love she fears might be lost forever. Can a hummingbird cake really bring back a lost love? Is there really a ghost dancing in Emily's backyard? The answers are never what you expect. But in this town of lovable misfits, the unexpected fits right in.
This is a quiet, beautiful book. It's slower than [a:Sarah Addison Allen|566874|Sarah Addison Allen|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1372537232p2/566874.jpg]'s other novels; has the feel of being languid and methodical as if the language is moving through a warm summer day where the air is so thick you can't quite think straight but it's comfortable.
I love the way Allen sees the world and I would walk with any of her characters through love and heartbreak and dessert just to live in her world a little longer. I love her sense of description, the way the world manifests itself in smells and food and little bits of magic. It's different than anything else I read and effective and delightful. If this one has, perhaps, a few places where the dialog bumps it makes up for it in lively and scrumptious descriptions.
More than anything, I loved Julia and Sawyer - how complicated their relationship and their emotions were; the delicious conflict and breaths of hope and everything.
But I also loved the other characters too. Stella was a small piece and I quickly adored her and Emily and Win and Vance were all parts of this odd little wonderful story.
The bottom line is I'd rather read Sarah Addison Allen's not-quite-as-seamless work than anything great by a lot of other authors.
