By Meg Charlton
Debut novelist Charlton deftly bends genres (sci-fi/coming-of-age/domestic drama) to create a deeply moving and surprising story about friendship, the vagaries of memory, and the complex tensions between perception and reality. Alex and Ana, two 6-year-olds, mysteriously vanish then reappear a day and a half later, remembering very little of what happened to them. Was it a kidnapping? Did they experience abuse of some kind? The press and the public settle on an alien abduction, and the two youngsters come of age as minor celebrities, appearing at UFO conventions, on reality television, and as guest stars on TV sitcoms. Meanwhile, Alex and Ana develop an unexpected and wonderful friendship that is tested by Alex’s desire to discover the truth and Ana’s (and her mother’s) wish to capitalize on their celebrity. So many beautiful surprises in a book that asks profound questions about our discomfort with the unknown and our relentless need for certainty. Come for the mystery but stay for the humor, the heart, and the deeply insightful investigation into the strange nature of consciousness.
READ IF YOU LIKE: TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW (Gabrielle Zevin), CULPABILITY (Bruce Holsinger), THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM (Liu Cixin)