by tragedy\u003B and various “summer people” renting out the next\u002Ddoor cottage, such as teenager Bree, whose interactions with locals have disastrous consequences. By novel’s end, Catharine follows through on a promise to a special person in her life. This latest novel by Finigan may remind readers of such short story cycles as Sherwood Anderson’s classic Winesburg, Ohio (1919) and Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge (2008), given its sweeping presentation of several characters in a small town. The narrative explores their relationships to one another in ways that are sometimes\u002Dglancing but often profound. Catharine, Tom, and Toby receive the most attention, but Finigan’s chapter on Bree, and her return later in the novel, allows for a striking demonstration of how one person’s actions can resonate across several lives. The book’s most effective element, though, is its heartbreaking portrayal of mental illness. Catharine believes that Tom is brilliant, as do his awful parents (portrayed in several memorably chilling scenes), and he experiences periods of “whirlwind of hope and possibility,” then increasingly wonders “how long he could stave off what he knew would follow. Each descent worse than the last.” A scene in which Tom holds Toby aloft as a child, during a Christmas Revels dance, serves as a well\u002Ddrawn example of how Tom’s exuberance has a dangerous edge\u003B so, too, do some of his worrying musings: “More and more his thoughts seemed to wander to the borderline, the edge of the beyond. What was out there?” His loved ones’ uncertainty about him, and his intentions, becomes a fitting element of this cross\u002Dcutting story, which effectively examines the wide\u002Dranging impact of individual actions."
