A poignant, tender, and beautifully written coming-of-age story.
Staufenberg spins a spare, luminous modern folktale about grief and the quiet courage of letting go. Twelve-year-old Sophie, newly orphaned, lives in a world where the dead linger in a frozen northern city until a loved one journeys there to “Send” them on with a final goodbye. Refusing this ritual, Sophie sets out with her stern grandmother to bring her parents’ spirits back. Along the way, she works in a bakery where bread won’t rise until she learns to infuse it with love, runs nightly to burn off the restless fire of grief, and plays cards with strangers who slowly draw her into their circle. Each encounter pushes Sophie toward a truth she resists: that love’s greatest act is release.
Staufenberg crafts a story that feels both timeless and freshly alive; he blends the clarity of a fable with the layered emotions of a coming-of-age quest. His prose is lean and luminous, evoking the groan of weary trains, the hush of snowbound platforms, and the lingering ache of grief without a trace of sentimentality. The novel holds its power in the perfect harmony between the physical journey and the young heroine’s inner awakening. Every meeting imparts understated lessons in love, bravery, and the art of carrying grief with grace. Staufenberg sidesteps melodrama. Instead, he focuses on how grief gently reshapes the heart’s duties and desires. What emerges is a quietly tense and deeply empathetic narrative that turns a young traveler’s quest into a resonant meditation on love, loss, and the hard-won freedom of release.
A stunner.
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Pub date April 16, 2014
ISBN 978-1497532731
Price $14.95 (USD) Paperback, $$2.99 Kindle edition
