Wide Blue Yonder

Jean Thompson

If you enjoy books that focus on the emotional development of characters, and the coming to terms with fears and relationships, then look no further. From the damaged and isolated Harvey, who is obsessed with the weather channel, to the emotional timebomb of the mysterious Rolando, the four main characters are each engaging in their own way. There is a real eye for detail, with the force of the weather forming a permanent backdrop and reflection of the emotional turbulence of their lives.

Extract

There were places like Springfield that used to be important but were now only good for being state capitals. Josie Sloan enjoyed saying this about her home town, in the way you can enjoy a grievance. It was a dump of a place that thought it was hot because it had the governor and a batch of blowhard legislators that the truly braindead voters of Illinois had elected. Nothing ever happened here and you could die of boredom a dozen different ways. You could spend your days roaming the aisles of the Dollar General, stuffing your cart full of depressing ticky-tacky, or you could marry one of the local oafs and have baby races with all the other oafettes, or you could wipe down the sticky counter of the Taco Bell for the twentieth time so the same fly could keep landing on it, like Josie was doing right now.

Parallels