The Light Through the Leaves by Glendy Vanderah

The two stories on their own are beautifully written, each tackling themes of loss, love, dependency, loneliness, longing & family in their own rights. Even if I wouldn’t have made the same choices as Ellis, I still feel like a passenger on her journey rather than an outsider. As a reader, it’s hard to enjoy a book if you can’t stand or sympathize with a main character, but this feels like an exception. Something I really appreciated about Vanderah’s writing is that the characters are incredibly multi-faceted so that even if they’re not relatable, or even likeable at most times, they’re believable. Raised by her unstable mother in a remote property in the forest, Raven finds friendship with the boys who live upstream and attempts to find some normalcy in her isolated life.

The other part of the story focuses on Raven, known as Daughter of Raven. After spiraling into depression and substance abuse, Ellis leaves her family behind to embark on a soul-searching journey through the wilderness, with no plans to ever return.

Her story begins when she gets distracted by her twin boys and accidentally leaves her baby alone. I’m so excited that I can once again enjoy her writing in an altogether different story. Vanderah’s first book, Where the Forest Meets the Starsis still in my TBR pile. Somehow, this book was heartbreaking and uplifting all-in-one. The Light Through the Leaves had me hooked from page one and I stayed hooked until the very last page. But despite her mother’s cautions, Raven finds herself longing for something more. With each lesson comes a warning of what dangers lie in the world beyond her isolated haven. Raven spends her days learning how to use her rare gifts-and more important, how to hide them.

She must never speak to outsiders about how her mother makes miracles spring from the earth, or about her father, whose mysterious presence sometimes frightens her. In a remote area of Washington, a young girl named Raven keeps secrets inside, too. Convinced she can only do more harm to her family, Ellis leaves her husband and young sons, burying her desperate ache for her children deeper with every step into the mountain wildernesses she treks alone.

A breaking point in an already fractured marriage, Viola’s abduction causes Ellis to disappear as well-into grief, guilt, and addiction. In a moment of crisis, Ellis Abbey leaves her daughter, Viola, unattended-for just a few minutes.

The Light Through the Leaves by Glendy Vanderah