Waiting for Unicorns by Beth Hautala

Author : Beth Hautala
Title : Waiting for Unicorns
Publisher: Philomel Books
Published : 22/01/215
Genre : Young Adult
Pages : 256

     When twelve-year-old Talia--still reeling from the recent death of her mother--is forced to travel with her emotionally and physically distant whale-researcher father to the Arctic for the summer, she begins to wonder if the broken pieces inside of her will ever begin to heal. Like her jar of wishes, Talia feels bottled up and torn. Everything about life in Churchill feels foreign, including Sura, the traditional Inuit woman whom Talia must live with. But when Sura exposes her to the tradition of storytelling, she unlocks something within Talia that has long since been buried: her ability to hope, to believe again in making wishes come true.

     This was another of those books that I happen to stumble upon by chance. While I do jump into the young adult section more and more recently, it tends to be for very specific genres. But when I read the blurb for this book something about it just grabbed hold of me and I knew I would have to give it a go. The setting is one I have experienced a couple of time and it comes across as a mixture of magical and also a hard place to make a home. Anyway, I brought this home and jumped right in.

     To start with this has one of the best first pages I have read in a very long time. There is something so true about its opening and also so very simple. It sets the tone for what is to come and everything our heroine goes on over the summer. This is not a story of big actions and wild rides. It is instead about looking inwards to how we deal with loss and grief. The author takes her time and moves forward calmly allowing the proper time for things. Much like actual grief, nothing happens fast and you have to allow your mind time to deal with what has taken place. Due to its first-person narrative we are taken into Talia's heart and mind, giving us a better insight into her new life. I would also point out that her interactions with her father felt genuine. These are two people that have been torn apart by death but chose to deal with it in different ways. And it is in this honest Talia's father is shown to us with all his faults and problems, as an adult who simply doesn't have all the answers. 

     The story flows along at a gentle pace as if the ocean coming over the sand. This is a book to look back on and contemplate about. There are a lot of ideas passed across within the pages, but at no point did I feel she was trying to ram it down my throat. Any book that deals with death and loss is going to have a difficult time translate this subject onto the page. The author did this with a great deal of sensitivity when dealing with loneliness and melancholy you want to believe that these characters will finally turn to face to the sun and some good will come to them. With that said she has managed to bring to this tale a sense of realism within its characters actions despite the slightly otherworldly quality to the way in which the book flows. For me, I read this book in one sitting, in part down to the short chapters. The author managed to gently fold me into Talia's world and everything she went through this is a book of reflections and giving us pause to think.

     I found my self-struggling to write this review, for me, it is something that is better to experience. Take some time out of your busy lives and get to know Talia and those people who call the Arctic home.