The Accident Season

by Moira Fowley-Doyle

[Kim Deister]

The Accident Season This was a strange, but intriguing book.  There were moments when it was like reading through an altered state, as if Cara isn't always 100% in the present.  In places, there was prose that reminded me a bit of Sarah McCarry's All Our Pretty Songs.  The lines of between reality and that which is imagined or dreamed are blurred.
 
The characters were fascinating, full of the flaws and contradictions that are a part of humanity.  Cara is the narrator of the story that focuses around herself, her sister Alice, their stepbrother Sam, as well as their mutual best friend Bea.  They are all such different people but they love each other unconditionally.  Each of them is flawed in their own way and they have almost a bit of a feral quality to them.  Except for this one month, they run a bit wild.  But when the month begins, their mother covers everything in padding and watches them all like a hawk.
 
And that is the center of the mystery... the month in which they all are suddenly accident-prone.  Bad things happen that month and no one really knows why.  And this year, there is an added bit of mystery in the form of Elsie, a mysterious girl that appears in all of Cara's photos.  Yet somehow, no one seems to know much about her, or even who she is,  
 
And yes, there is romance.  Romance that is found in unexpected places, but romance that is real and founded in love.
 
The twists are incredible, the revelations emotionally intense, and the story is caprivatingly mind-boggling.  The lyrical, magical quality to the prose keeps you guessing, wondering what is real and what isn't.  And when those revelations come... MIND BLOWN.  
 
My Recommendation
 
Love, love, LOVE this novel!  I loved the unusual quality to the story, the twists, the turns.  Such a great read!