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Far Away, I Land
Viki Alles-Crouch. Inkwater Press, $21.95 paper (370p) ISBN 978-1-62901-025-0
This novel follows the lives of a young Hungarian girl named Erzsike during World War II; a Sri Lankan boy named Prema, who is abused by his father; and Robert Cross, a British soldier haunted by war memories. Over the course of the book—which in its structure is somewhat reminiscent of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas—the many story lines and lives eventually converge. While Alles-Crouch excels at description—those of the Sri Lankan setting are particularly well rendered—the novel's pacing is uneven and some of its characters are too broadly drawn. Readers will likely be less curious about how the stories connect and more interested in getting a richer portrayal of the main characters.
Reviewed by Publishers Weekly on 07/25/2014
Release date 11/01/2013