The Year of Fog Author:Michelle Richmond Life changes in an instant. On a foggy beach. In the seconds when Abby Mason -- photographer, fiancee soon-to-be-stepmother -- looks into her camera and commits her greatest error. Heartbreaking, uplifting, and beautifully told, here is the riveting tale of a family torn apart, of the search for the truth behind a child’s disappearance, an... more »d of one woman’s unwavering faith in the redemptive power of love -- all made startlingly fresh through Michelle Richmond’s incandescent sensitivity and extraordinary insight.
Six-year-old Emma vanished into the thick San Francisco fog. Or into the heaving Pacific. Or somewhere just beyond: to a parking lot, a stranger’s van, or a road with traffic flashing by. Devastated by guilt, haunted by her fears about becoming a stepmother, Abby refuses to believe that Emma is dead. And so she searches for clues about what happened that morning -- and cannot stop the flood of memories reaching from her own childhood to illuminate that irreversible moment on the beach.
Now, as the days drag into weeks, as the police lose interest and fliers fade on telephone poles, Emma’s father finds solace in religion and scientific probability -- but Abby can only wander the beaches and city streets, attempting to recover the past and the little girl she lost. With her life at a crossroads, she will leave San Francisco for a country thousands of miles away. And there, by the side of another sea, on a journey that has led her to another man and into a strange subculture of wanderers and surfers, Abby will make the most astounding discovery of all -- as the truth of Emma’s disappearance unravels with stunning force.
A profoundly original novel of family, loss, and hope -- of the choices we make and the choices made for us -- The Year of Fog beguiles with the mysteries of time and memory even as it lays bare the deep and wondrous workings of the human heart. The result is a mesmerizing tour de force that will touch anyone who knows what it means to love a child.« less
Alrite, I was given this book to read. I would recommend this book if you like a lot of details, sometimes I felt lost in the book due to all the descriptions. I mean really how many times do you need to describe a sunset???
however the story line is great the ending leaves you with so many questions.
This was not, admittedly, my kind of book. I read about half of it, which was compelling enough (how can you NOT wonder what happens to a child who disappears?) and moderately well written. But then I got tired of the plot and the characters, none of whom I really liked. The ending was downright ridiculous.
ABsolutely hated this book. The author went on and on...page after page...chapter after chapter about the main character looking for this child. It was also downright unbelievable. I think the book was edited by an summer, high school intern at the publishing house. It was horrible.
I really liked No One You Know, so I jumped at the chance to read this one. I thought the plot was interesting, and though I didn't love any of the characters, I did enjoy them for the simple fact they weren't cookie cutter people you could transplant to any story. By halfway through, though, I'd had more than enough of long passages on memory or photograpy not because I was bored but because it felt like a textbook or a lecture--very dry. I think this book would have been better as a short story. Or as a much shorter novel. She could have canned all the exposition on memory and stuck to the story, and I think it would have been great. This hasn't turned me off to the author, and I'll read her other books.
I enjoyed this book. It is an easy read with a surprising ending. A book that you can take with you and read a few pages at a time without getting confused!! Enjoyable, light reading