Chloe idolized her big sister Ruby. Ruby is the girl that everyone wants to be and everyone bends over backwards to please. Chloe enjoys being Ruby’s little sister; Ruby who has basically raised her since their mom spends most of her time at the local pub. One day, while hanging out at the Hudson Valley reservoir one of Chloe’s classmates, sixteen-year old London, is found dead floating in a rowboat. Chloe’s dad sends for her to live with him and his new family in Pennsylvania and she goes reluctantly.
Two years later Ruby, whom Chloe has never known to leave their hometown in upstate New York, goes to Pennsylvania to retrieve her sister. When Chloe gets back to the town she notices that things are strange. London is alive, and no one seems to think it strange. And everyone is being unbelievably nice, subservient even, to Ruby.
This is a really strange book, but I mean it in a good way. It leaves you off balance as you see the world through Chloe’s eyes and try to make sense of the world around her. If you are a fan of magical realism, think Alice Hoffman, then you may want to enter the strange world of this small town in New York.
