Alexis Schaitkin's second book is going to be living in my head for a long time. There is a great deal that's undefinable about this book- it rides this edge of speculative fiction just enough that you're wondering where the line is about what's real. It's a book that's out of time- it's clearly not strictly contemporary, as there is little technology mentioned in the book, but it doesn't feel like it's set in the distant past. All this, combined with several other factors, honestly made this book one that had me feeling unsettled throughout reading. I didn't have a firm grip on the reality, but more importantly this hit on my deepest fears. In the isolated town Vera is from, mothers sometimes just... disappear. When they are gone, the town ensures that they'll be forgotten. The pain of this is visceral and the idea of the forgetting hit me really hard. It feels a little culty, it feels a little dangerous, and I can't wait for more readers to read this book when it comes out in June so that we can discuss it!