In recent years I have consumed most of the books I “read” during my long commute in the form of audiobooks. Of the 38 books I’ve read so far this year, 33 of them have been in the car.
Occasionally, I will be so moved by an audiobook that I’ve gone and bought a print copy. That way if I want to revisit the book and if I’m not near the grid — or if it has disappeared from the grid — or if the grid disappears! — then I still can revisit the book.
The latest book to so move me is A Study in Drowning, which I finished listening to a few days ago. Ava Reid’s little fantasy is one of the more entertaining and enthralling books I’ve encountered in recent memory.
A friend asked me to elaborate and I wrote on Facebook, “A girl who has always struggled with visions of a fairy king wins a contest to redesign the manor of her recently deceased favorite author for the man’s son, where she interacts with another young scholar whose theory is the guy wasn’t the books’ real author. Intrigue ensues, and of course it slowly becomes clear that her fantasies may somehow be real.”
Of course Effy’s new friend, Preston, also is on to something, and the big reveal at the end is rather brilliantly assembled. The book is also about following one’s passion — Effy, who wants to study literature, is told that “girls can’t,” so she settles for architecture, but the book is really about how yes, girls can, and why not.
It’s not an issue unique to Effy’s culture or even to girls. So often we are told you can’t, that’s not the way we do it, we’re not allowed, and yet we need to do it that way with every fiber of our souls. Will it harm you or anyone else if you pursue it? Then why not?
A Study in Drowning is in part about a character who wants to do something other than her assigned task — who has been told, “Do this, not that silly thing that moves your heart.” In fact, she’s not even allowed by her culture to do that silly thing, and so it becomes not simply her passion but forbidden fruit.
After reading a recommendation for this book in March, I put myself on my library’s waiting list for the audiobook, and it took me four months to reach the top of the list. It is well worth the wait. I finished listening on Saturday night and went in search of my printed copy Sunday morning.
