Having read C.S. Richardson's The End of the Alphabet, I nabbed this right away upon its release. It's a gentle and lovely story - a love story, really - though it spins through a group of characters so much larger than the main romance.

Richardson has a way to twisting the mundane with things a little big magical, just a short step to the side of reality. The end result is a tale that reads like a myth or a fable in places, but with such a deft and light touch it ends up not quite in the company of such magical tales as Practical Magic, The Mistress of Spices, or Chocolat, but rather in a space between completely grounded stories and those with more overt mysticism.

The large cast of characters in this book might deter a reader or two, but be patient. It all weaves together, and the end result is absolutely worth your time.

We're heading out for breakfast and this lovely book will stay behind. As always, I try to set my books free once I'm done with them... and hopefully make some room for some new ones in the house!

I'm incurable.