The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman is a book about books. The love for books, the way they can save a person or impact a life. And for that message alone, I’d like to give it all the stars. But it’s also about a mother’s love in more than one way (there is also a lovely lesbian couple which I adored) and a daughter’s love, which is a message that resonated with me even more.
“Real life is unbelievable. Souls are snatched away from us, flesh and blood turn to dust, people you love betray you, men go to war over nothing. It’s all preposterous. That’s why we have novels. To make sense out of things.”
We follow both Mia and her mother Ivy. When Ivy gets pregnant, her parents react quite bad, and she decided to run away. She ends up in a cult that promises her safety and cherishes her child. But the cult gets more and more restrictive and when Mia is a teenager, she feels trapped. Until her mom makes her discover the library, where she finds a love for books and the strength that comes from them. She especially loves The Scarlet Letter because it seems to be her life, and is a bit obsessed with the author. And with a slight fantasy element to this story, she just might meet him.
I loved the writing, it was very poetic but not in a distractive way, on the contrary, I just couldn’t stop reading. I highlighted many beautiful quotes. The story was so intruiging and harrowing, as most cult stories are. And at 50% there is suddenly an entire change to the story, which makes it seem like two stories in one, though the end ties it up neatly as one story. It has a slow cadence, yet it entrances you to read on, and since a lot happens, it doesn’t feel slow at all. I loved all of it, the first part maybe a bit better than the second part, but both were great. It’s very unique, unlike anything I read before, and I got all the feels. I highly recommend this book!
“In the story, there would be a man who didn’t have the courage to declare himself, and another man who didn’t care if he brought a woman to ruin, but there was also a love that couldn’t be broken, the love was never invisible, the heart of the story, the love of a mother for her child.”
I received a free e-arc through Edelweiss, but this hasn’t influenced my opinions. The quotes are from this e-arc as well and can change in the final version.
Yellow Mockingjay 