Haunting and lyrical; an un-put-downable read.
A solitary Oakland homeowner with a penchant for antique hunting and restoration discovers a cache of 1930s diaries hidden beneath her attic floorboards in Aker’s evocative novel. Aurora “Lark” Fernschild has built a life of solitude and order, restoring her home piece by piece. When she finds hidden diaries from the 1930s, she is drawn into the voice of a girl whose story closely echoes her own. As Lark leaves her job, takes in a roommate, and begins writing again, she must face the past she has carefully avoided and decide whether she is ready to be known.
Reflective and character-driven, the novel favors psychological depth over plot. Lark is an unconventional protagonist: guarded, idiosyncratic, and emotionally elusive, yet fully realized, her habits rooted in past trauma rather than mere eccentricity. Her relationship with Bryn is restrained and understated; he functions less as a romantic lead than a counterbalance to her inward nature, revealing both her desire for connection and her reluctance to allow it. Aker’s prose is richly descriptive, particularly in its attention to domestic spaces and objects, which become extensions of Lark’s inner life. At times, this descriptive quality slows the pacing, but it also reinforces the novel’s thematic focus on memory, material history, and the act of preservation. At its core, the book explores how the past endures, not just in memory but in the things we keep and the stories we tell ourselves. The novel resists easy resolution, instead emphasizing the uneasy process of self-examination and the risks inherent in being truly known.
A slow-burning page-turner.
***
Posthumous editing by Alice Jurow, Therese Poletti and Heather Ripley
Pub date March 13, 2026
Print length 648 pages
ISBN 9798233106316
Price $4.99
Lovely! Can’t wait to read this!
Yay, thank you Suzanne! And thank you so much for your work on the beautiful cover photo!!