The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

I have owned "The Strange and Beautiful Sorrow of Ava Lavender" by Leslye Walton since September of 2019. It had been a book that I had heard about for more than a year. I was interested in the concept and wanted to read it; however, I let it sit on my shelves for months. I had decided that I needed to be in the right mood for such a book. In a lot of ways, that is true. There are some absolutely heartbreaking moments; however, this book deserves to be read. To call this book strange or odd would be an understatement, yet at the same time, it is undeniably beautiful.

This book has a very slow start. You don't start right with Ava Lavender and her life, but you go back generations before and learn about her family line. The first fifty or so pages had me wondering if this was going to go on my did not finish list which left me quite disappointed because there were several people I trust in book reviews and they all gave this book five stars. I made a commitment to read at least the first 100 pages and then decide. After about 75 pages I was completely hooked and I could not finish this fast enough. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and am very familiar with its rain and grey days. I felt right at home among these pages and didn't want to leave. Despite the slow start, I rated this book five out of five stars.

Leslye Walton

I have read magical realism before; however, I did not know its name. I would call it realistic fantasy or not put it in a genre at all; however, I think magical realism sounds a little more mysterious, and I like it very much. According to Dictionary.com, the official definition is "a style of painting and literature in which fantastic or imaginary and often unsettling images or events are depicted in a sharply detailed, realistic manner." Knowing this, it brings a lot of perspective to this novel that has a strange fairy tale feel to it.

This was an incredible debut novel for Leslye Walton. I know that in 2018 she published a book called "The Price Guide to the Occult" that I will keep a look out for because I definitely want to read more of her stuff as this story is also set in the Pacific Northwest.