Idaho

On a hot August afternoon in North Idaho, Jenny Mitchell kills her younger daughter, May, with a hatchet while her husband, Wade, and older daughter, June, are nearby. June disappears into the woods and is never found. The narrative follows Wade’s second wife, Ann, as she attempts to piece together the details of that day decades later. Because Wade suffers from early-onset dementia, his memory of his first family and the tragedy fades. Ann searches through old remnants and legal documents to reconcile the violent act with the man she loves.

Readers who value non-linear storytelling and psychological realism find this book instructive for its treatment of memory loss and culpability. It attracts those interested in the aftermath of inexplicable violence rather than the procedural details of a crime. The reader finishes with a visceral understanding of how grief shapes physical landscapes and how families invent their own histories when the truth is inaccessible. It is a study of endurance under the weight of unanswerable questions.

Deep, inward-looking, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

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