by Helen Sedgwick (Harvill
Secker) ISBN 9781910701744
‘Why
draw a square house with a triangular roof when you can draw the patterns in
the stars?’
This is definitely my best book
of the year. It has everything I’m always looking for in a book: magic, science, and love stories. The tone and lyrical clear writing resonate with Sarah
Winman’s books, including When God was a Rabbit and A Year of Marvellous Ways.
Several stories are intertwined,
like echoes of past generations, moving backward and forward through time. But
the two main storylines are about Róisín and François who meet in Antarctica at a research centre. She is fascinated by comets. He is the chef of the team.
The comets that have passed through the skies for the last hundreds of years
connect them and influence the destiny and fate of this unlikely pair. The
ghosts of the past also play an important role in the lives of Róisín and
Francois. A thread through the embroidery of this narrative is the tapestry
of Bayeux.
This is Sedgwick’s debut novel.
She is a research physicist from Edinburgh. Science and poetry often go
together. I can’t wait to read her next book.
Pauline Vijverberg
www.writerswrite.co.za
5/5
www.writerswrite.co.za
5/5
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