This slim novel (which has been translated by Aneesa Abbas Higgins) stayed with me long after I’d finished it, largely because of its indelible imagery and its exploration of family ties and belonging. It sees Agathe leaving New York to return to her childhood home in rural France. She’s made the trip because her father has died and she must sift through his belongings along with Véra, her younger sister who stopped speaking when she was six.

As they sort through the house, quiet gestures and shared memories replace spoken dialogue, creating an atmosphere charged with grief, distance, and unspoken affection. Dusapin handles the sisters’ delicate dynamic with exceptional restraint, capturing the strange friction between childhood intimacy and adult alienation. Rich with poetic precision, it is a haunting, deeply empathetic portrait of loss, quiet emotional resilience, and the fragile bridges we construct to reconnect with those we love. RM

Published by Daunt Originals