Beautifully and so well written. This big-ish book takes you to the setting BUT without the endless descriptive essays. Every word has its place. There's a lot going on in this book - poverty, family secrets, abuse, assaults, migration, New World expectations, anti-climax - that the near-deaths almost fade into near-insignificance. I like this book a lot and will look out for other books by this new author. I like her style.