The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen is a charming book about a girl called Emily who returns to her mother’s hometown in North Carolina shortly after her mother’s death where she will be staying with her grandfather.
Nothing is quite as Emily was expecting when she arrived. Strange things seem to happen here and the longer she stays the more strange the place becomes. The wallpaper in her bedroom seems to change based on the mood of the person in the room. There are strange lights outside the house at night in the woods which call to her. She is warned not to follow as if everyone else already knows what they are. What is happening in this strange town?
Emily must forge a relationship completely from scratch with her grandfather. When she arrives in Mullaby he is a man she has never met. Everyone in town knows all about her mother and the things that made her leave the town but Emily knows nothing. Why will no one speak about the reasons her mother left? Disapproval seems to be there in their words when they walk about her. But why?
Emily wants answers but her grandfather hides himself away in his room everyday. It is their neighbour Julia who seems happy to talk about her mother. She had been to school with her and tells stories that don’t match Emily’s memories of her mother at all.
Julia bakes the most wonderful cakes. People come from all over town to eat them. They are truly magical cakes. Julia can bake anything for any way a person is feeling. Julia’s baking literally calls people into her shop to taste the cakes. And one particular cake is said to call in an old love.
Back into Julia’s life walks Sawyer. A boy she had known from school when they were all much younger. Sawyer wants to get to know Julia better and this makes a lovely slow burning secondary plot for the novel. Themes of regret and missed opportunities are prevalent in the book.
Emily has her own romance plot going on with Win Coffey. Win comes from an old family who have lived all their life in Mullaby. Win’s father is very against any interactions between Emily and his son. His hatred of Emily’s mother appears to extend to the next generation.
This is a great book of stories intertwining with one another. Emily and Win work brilliantly as new love and something just starting out. Everything Julia and Sawyer could have been 15 years earlier. The reader can see so much potential in each match and so much potential for hurt and misunderstandings. The fragility of relationships is a great theme in this book.
I really liked the magical realism in this book. It was just enough to add a magical element to it without it becoming the sole focus of the book or taking over. It’s brilliantly constructed with characters coming together perfectly and interacting with the importance of the location. A really well written book in a unique style.
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