My Review of "Eleanor"

Jason Gurley's Eleanor: A Novel is a real page-turner, a treat for those who love mysteries and are suckers for stories about the power of love and loyalty in families.

Eleanor felt drawn to the sea. When she was a girl, she swam competitively. But then she fell in love, got married, and had a baby -- and that was enough for a while. Until she started feeling like she was only alive when she swam in the sea. Her husband would take her. He was very understanding. Then one day she went to the sea and never came back.

Eleanor, though, is more about her name-sake -- her granddaughter, also a twin whose sister is ripped from her through death at a young age, and subsequently grows up in a family of sorrow and rage.

So the twinless twin continues on through the years, with a now alcoholic mother who blames her, and a sporadically absent father. Her only solace is her friend Jack, a kindred spirit. Then strange things starts to happen. Doorways pull Eleanor to other worlds, some beautiful and some scary (and some nothing that have characters of their own as well) and back again, losing time when she returns. If she doesn't figure out what's going on and how to control it, her loved ones will be in even more pain than ever before.

The story is compellingly tragic -- its characters all lost from loss, anger erupting from a seemingly endless reservoir. And in between is a supernatural rift of nothing, which may hold the key to soothing all the hurt.

I won't give more of the story away. Because this is a novel I recommend so highly that I think it's best experienced, not described.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

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