The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

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The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton



                I don’t know if I can adequately explain why I loved this novel. I sat down on the couch, started reading and then finished the novel that same day. This novel was so well written, so well imagined, so amazingly different that I just found myself enjoying all of the different aspects that were presented. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender is the story of a young girl born with wings, Ava Lavender. Ava is our narrator and she explains how the generations of women that came before her had different magical abilities that affected the lives of family that came after them. Her grandmother was a sensitive woman who could read the signs of everything and could also see her deceased siblings. Her mother had an extremely sensitive sense of smell. And Ava had wings. Her twin brother was able to see the dead like his grandmother. The lives and abilities of each generation would have a different effect on those around them.

                I just really enjoyed this book. Walton did such a great job with the tone of the novel and the mystery of the wings. This novel just unfolded beautiful. I’ve seen this novel described as magical realism and I honestly can’t describe it any other way. This was a book filled with magic set in a very realistic time. I couldn’t put this book down. Ava was an extremely interesting narrator. What would your life be like if you had wing? I could never imagine and yet reading these pages it just seemed so plausible. There was a sense of mystery and a tone of loss and love that pervaded through the pages. This was a story about family, relationships and complicated love. This might not be for everyone but for me this was amazing. I needed this book. It was such an easy, interesting, heart wrenching read. Love. Love was in these pages. It wasn’t always understandable. It wasn’t always straight forward but it was there. I give this 5 out of 5 stars. 

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