The Hazel Wood

I probably first caught wind of this book via the New York Times Book Review and then bought it for my daughter. Then it was languishing unread on her own bookshelf mostly because of “ooh look, the internet!” But then I wanted a change of pace and plucked it from her shelf. Yeah, whatever, Dad. I quickly got sucked in. The writing has that effortless feel and the characters were very engaging. I really enjoyed getting to know out protagonist, Alice and her school friend, Ellery Finch. But it seems that Alice has been having an exceeding odd life and has been constantly on the move with her mother. Her grandmother, Althea, is a reclusive author of a book of strange dark fairy tales, Tales From the Hinterland. It's out of print and very hard to find. But then strange characters that could be from this Hinterland start popping up. Then Alice's mom goes missing. So Alice and Finch decide to try to find this Hinterland. It's cool and dark and weird and I zipped through this book. It even made me ignore my phone more. That's a good thing.