I’ve always been intrigued by groups of people - cliques, cults, communal living, religious followers. This book touches that nerve for me, along with the mystery and strangeness. The storytelling is haunting, with a sense of peril and darkness. Other than the obvious curiosity of mothers disappearing, why do they prick the men with their silver hairpins before lovemaking? Why is the community connected to the world yet isolated? Who is the stranger and why is she there? I’m interested to find out if the story is a social commentary of some sort or a magical escape. The cover reminds me of a New Yorker magazine cover - which is another curiosity.