Seventeen-year-old Janey leaves her coastal hometown with a plan to pursue her dream of a life in the big city with her boyfriend. But when she returns to her hometown 12 years later, she is all alone.
But something has happened in the past - one Christmas eve - that Janey must resolve before she moves on with her life. And she tries to do that, she discovers how unreliable memories can be and that things have a way of turning out different to plan. The story floats along seamlessly taking the reader back and forth in time before revealing how the past anchors the present.
The motif of painting over a new wall turns up at various points as a constant reminder of smoothing over the past before building the future. The tug of war between the ancient and the modern, of new residents calling out traditional practices and the past distorting the present, reverberates throughout the story. Huggins infuses the topical remarkably well in a taut narrative within the tight space of a novella.
As someone who is familiar with the short stories that inspired this longer version, it was delightful to see past characters from her Japanese short story collection make an appearance too. It felt like meeting a familiar face among the pages, leaving the reader to marvel at the scope of Huggins’ body of work and craft.
As the festive season rolls around and the book lovers are inundated with high profile hefty volumes to choose from, this slim novella sneaks in with promise.
The Blue of You can easily become a comfort read – one of those well-loved festive movies that we like to watch many times over, just to enter that world and relive the emotions once more. With its resonating characters and defining moments, the Blue of you is a treat you don’t want to miss.
Thank you to the author for my copy. The Blue of You is published by Northodox Press and is available to pre-order.
