Virgil Wander is a beautiful, mythical story following the titular character after he accidentally drives his car into a lake following a snow storm and miraculously survives. He's not the same as the "previous tenant" of his body, and the novel follows how he's changed as a result of the harrowing accident, including his loss of vocabulary (specifically, adjectives). In following Virgil, we meet numerous characters of his town, Greenstone, Minnesota, including longstanding residents: Nadine, a sign-maker and presumed widow of Alec Sandstome, a minor league pitcher who vanished many years ago while flying his plane; Bjorn, Nadine's teenage son who has taken up surfing and is coming to terms with the disappearance of his father; Tom Beeman, Virgil's best friend and a journalist for the local paper. We also meet new-comers to the town including Rune, a Norwegian kite-maker who is revealed to be Alec's unknown father and Adam Leer, a mysterious filmmaker who is returning to the town his father discovered and help build.
Virgil Wander follows the interplay of all these characters and tells the story not only of Virgil's transformation, but the transformation of the enchanting and almost mythical town of Greenstone. Virgil Wander, in that way, is a character and town-study that can be a bit slow-moving but the characters are heartwarming and you find yourself rooting for them in all sorts of ways. By the end, all the characters have changed in some way and have impacted each other and they'll leave an impact on you as well.
Thank you to Bookish First and Grove Atlantic publishers for my free ARC of the book.
Virgil Wander follows the interplay of all these characters and tells the story not only of Virgil's transformation, but the transformation of the enchanting and almost mythical town of Greenstone. Virgil Wander, in that way, is a character and town-study that can be a bit slow-moving but the characters are heartwarming and you find yourself rooting for them in all sorts of ways. By the end, all the characters have changed in some way and have impacted each other and they'll leave an impact on you as well.
Thank you to Bookish First and Grove Atlantic publishers for my free ARC of the book.