Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest review, where today my good friend and fellow reviewer Fabienne Schwizer is here to talk about The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young – out now from Quercus. An “atmospheric mystery” exploring themes of family, guilt, time travel and murder, this sounds great! Over to Fab to tell us more…
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In autumn 2022, I fell hard for Adrienne Young’s Spells for Forgetting. Young has an incredible grasp of building atmosphere that will make you dream of places both familiar and foreign. Now, she is back with a new standalone adult novel, The Unmaking of June Farrow. This too is an atmospheric mystery, with the wildcard inclusion of time travel.
With echoes of Alix E. Harrow’s The Ten Thousand Doors of January, The Unmaking of June Farrow sees the titular June step through a door into the unknown. To her great surprise, she finds herself back in the 1950s. Dropped into a world where everyone seems to know her. Only, June’s fairly certain she’s just been in 2023 and *definitely* does not recognise anyone. It turns out an older version of herself has been there – getting married, having a daughter, bonding with her own grandmother’s family. This June had disappeared a year previously – just after the Pastor, who happens to be June’s biological father, was found murdered. So what happened a year ago and how does any of this fit with what June knows to be true about herself?
Young’s descriptive voice immediately pulls you into the story. Set in a rural small town, partially on a traditional farm, the setting comes alive. With Young’s writing, the places her stories are set in are characters in their own right. Jasper, North Carolina is a fairly typical mid-century small town. A self-contained society, rural setting and the significance of gossip and individual relationships for status remind us of what it is to be human and struggle with difference – in ways that transcend the 1950s and draw parallels to today. The way Young writes descriptions is extraordinary. While plot and characters are important to The Unmaking of June Farrow as well, it is the language and voice that make the story stand out. I am not a visual reader at all, but reading this, I felt like I could smell and taste Jasper. In that respect, Young is a master of her craft.
I especially enjoyed the sense of familiarity and trust that slowly built between June and her grandmother Annie – they had a close relationship in June’s present, though Annie passed away a few months before we meet June. Going back to the Jasper of Annie’s childhood lets that relationship gain another dimension and shows how much they care about each other. Despite initial misgivings, they soon find that spark of love again, but in a way that lets both women grow. They get to meet each other in a neutral space and meet each other as people first and foremost. We often have set relationships with our elders, based on the clear hierarchy that developed during childhood. Foregoing this and meeting fresh as adults lets June and Annie skip this stage – something that resonated with me as someone who is close with a grandmother, a relationship that has forcibly been evolving and growing more mature over the past few years.
Similarly, the way June’s relationship with Eamon Stone, her apparent husband, begins and changes is a joy to read. That doesn’t mean everything is rosy. Family is complicated, and blood doesn’t necessarily mean family. After all, June’s biological father was murdered and her brother Caleb, as the Sheriff, is determined to prove that June killed him. Relationships are tense and complex. Guilt is a strong thread through the story – what makes someone guilty, what guilt characters carry around with them and how that guilt impacts relationships. This makes the narrative tension palpable and keeps the reader on their toes. As a whole, The Unmaking of June Farrow is a spectacular novel about family, self and, of course, murder.
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Fabienne can usually be found with her nose in a book or two. Most of her life revolves around words, be that reading, writing, or editing. You can find more of her ramblings over on www.libridraconis.com, where she also reviews YA books and more lighthearted Fantasy and Science Fiction, as @FLSchwizer on Twitter, and @libri_draconis on Instagram. If you’re curious about what she is currently reading, check out www.goodreads.com/libridraconis.
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The Unmaking of June Farrow is out now via Quercus – check out the links below to order* your copy:
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