Cassie McCullough

Yeah, the whole tone of the novel just goes down a couple of octaves and several degrees to a much cooler place, a much more sane place, although we're still experiencing the world through her eyes and her particular eyes.

jazz.

I'm going to call it that again.

Because the baby keeps growing inside.

It doesn't stop growing.

You know, there are implications.

And then they come up against the wall that is the law.

So it becomes very heavy.

Yeah, it is very moving.

In fact, there's one moment right towards the end where the baby's born and the family's meeting with someone who's from the outside and the brother accidentally introduces himself as the baby's husband.

And this sort of breaks the ice.

Their laughter approached hysteria.

Tears streaked down their faces as they gripped each other's arms and could not stop laughing.

Just a moment, but just a wonderful description of that tension around huge emotional events bursting into hilarity or, you know, inappropriate responses.

Everyone's talking, but not about this, perhaps.

This is not a book for everyone.

It is challenging, I think, in terms of language and narrative flow.

If you're not up for that, try the audio book.

It's only just over four hours, but it does work read aloud.

Mm-hmm.