The Oceanography of the Moon by Glendy Vanderah

First off, this is not magical realism as some may have expected. The unique prism that Vanderah’s narrative uses to view people, things, and nature was one of the many things that captivated me. She and a few of her characters appear to perceive the world through a high contrast and high saturation filter, allowing them to see the enchantment and serendipity present in every day life.

She created an enticing sense of tension between the people and their environment through her aesthetically realistic descriptions of natural vegetation, animals, and even the shifting weather conditions. The extraordinary degree of tolerance and altruistic goodness exhibited by Vanderah’s exquisitely realised secondary character cast, who rank among the most genuinely endearing I have read, is also remarkably refreshing.

The unravelling of terrible secrets and one of my favourite narrative devices, dual alternating first-person lead character perspectives, carry The Oceanography of the Moon to its conclusion as a deeply romantic, psychologically charged drama with surprisingly dark depths. Although readers gradually come to understand the full extent of Riley Mays’ and Vaughn Orr’s respective traumas, different coping mechanisms, long-lasting effects, and their influence on present-day behaviour, it is clear from the beginning that both Riley Mays and Vaughn Orr have experienced trauma in the past.

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The sympathetic examination of trauma and mental agony in this book, as well as the dialogue between its deep-thinking protagonists, which is both engagingly sharp and whimsically intelligent, both demonstrate Glendy Vanderah’s growth as a writer in my eyes. The moral complexities explored in this story would make great fodder for book club discussion.

The Oceanography of the Moon is without a doubt recommended if you want to curl up with a warm blanket and read a frightening, realistic mystery as the sun breaks through storm clouds. I had a hard time putting it down.

About The Book

Young Riley Mays relocated from Chicago to her cousins’ farm in Wisconsin after the sudden deaths of her aunt and mother. Here, in this quiet haven where she escapes from her most traumatic memories, she finds comfort in tending to her exceptional adopted brother, exploring the surrounding untamed nature, and staring at the mystical moon. Riley feels too constrained by the protective walls she’s built around herself ten years later, at age twenty-one. Riley detects a hidden motive in the stranger’s desire to flee when he enters her family’s isolated world.

Best-selling author Vaughn Orr, who is experiencing writer’s block, is travelling through the countryside when he comes across the hospitable, if a little odd, Mays family. His interest is quickly piqued by their oddities, particularly Riley’s quiet tenacity. He sees in her a need to conceal terrible truths that they both share.

If Riley and Vaughn want to have any chance of a happy future, they must muster the strength to face the darkest experiences of their lives as they threaten to resurface. Can the two let go of the traumatic pasts they have held on to for so long with the aid of Riley’s loving family, a dash of commonplace magic, and the healing power of nature?