The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young
The Unmaking of June Farrow, a multi-generational mystery with a touch of romance and time-play, is a great followup to her previous magical realism novel Spells for Forgetting.
In Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow is determined to break her family's curse, which has haunted the Farrow women for generations. After her grandmother's passing, June unearths clues linking her mother's disappearance to the town's dark history. She discovers a mysterious door that might hold the answers to Jasper's enigmas but risks her sanity the deeper she delves. As she crosses the threshold, June's journey reshapes both past and future.
The Unmaking of June Farrow is a little more intense and complex than the cozy mystery you find in Spells for Forgetting and I really enjoyed Young's criss-crossed timeline and the layering involved. June's personal journey was deeply felt and the characters around her were wonderfully solid and vivid.
My main takeaway for the majority of the book was just how perfectly Young depicted the North Carolina small, mountain town feel. She captured the essence of this brilliantly and remained true to the setting and characters without ever going over the top, which is a main beef I often have with Southern fiction. It's clear that Young lives in that area and I was thrilled with how perfectly she portrayed this particular brand of Southernness on the page, something that's hard to do even for native North Carolinians, much less transplants like her.
There are a lot of elements from Spells for Forgetting to which she has returned for the barest bones of how the two compare: small town community, an old and unsolved murder, a farm that feeds into sustaining the economy of the area, an outsider family, and a multi-generational family at the heart of it all. But her setting is not the only thing she changed for The Unmaking of June Farrow. The way Young played with story and character here was a wonderfully fresh take and reminded me a lot of Sarah Addison Allen's Garden Spells.
As June explores the mystery, her place in the world, her relationships with the people in her life, and the idea of fate, are all tested. Once again, Young infuses the novel with an intriguing mystery, captivating atmosphere, and a moving romance. Her overall storytelling, exceptional characters, and writing style perfectly aligns with my preferences and expectations.
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This affected neither my opinion of the book nor the content of my review.
